Hebrew word · H5394

נָשַׁל

shal-

to slip

A rare verb whose basic meaning is 'to slip off, come loose, drop off', or in its active sense 'to strip off, pull off, clear away'. It is also used of a king forcing a population out of a town (2 Kgs 16:6, of the Judeans at Elath).

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to slip off, drop off, clear away, draw off

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to slip or drop off

1a2) to draw off

1a3) to clear away

1b) (Piel) to clear out completely, clear entirely

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Deuteronomy 7:1

Range of meaning

A rare verb whose basic meaning is 'to slip off, come loose, drop off', or in its active sense 'to strip off, pull off, clear away'. It is used for taking off sandals (Exod 3:5; Josh 5:15), an iron axe-head flying off its handle (Deut 19:5), and olives dropping from the tree before they ripen (Deut 28:40). It is also used of a king forcing a population out of a town (2 Kgs 16:6, of the Judeans at Elath).

Against the English

The KJV, WEB and YLT have 'cast out' and the BSB and NIV 'drive out'. Several modern versions say 'clears away'. 'Drive out' suggests a chase or expulsion, while the Hebrew picture is closer to detaching something from where it sits: pulling it off as you would a sandal.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible it occurs only a handful of times. Deuteronomy uses it again in this same chapter: 'The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make an end of them quickly' (Deut 7:22). The Greek Septuagint generally renders it with verbs of removing or lifting away (here, as best I can tell, a form of exairō).

From the study of Joshua 5:15

Range of meaning

To slip off, drop off, or come loose; with an object, to draw something off or clear it away. Uses include an iron axe-head flying off its handle (Deut 19:5), olives dropping from the tree (Deut 28:40), and sandals being pulled off (Exod 3:5; Deut 25:9 in the ritual where a widow pulls off the sandal of the brother-in-law who refuses to marry her). Twice God is its subject: he 'clears away' the nations before Israel (Deut 7:1, 22).

Against the English

'Take off', 'remove', 'loose' (KJV) and 'cast off' (YLT) all give the action correctly. None of them can carry the verb's link with the Deuteronomy passages about clearing away the nations, because in English those use other words.

Used elsewhere in the period

The imperative form shal appears in Exod 3:5 and Josh 5:15, the only two places where God or his envoy orders someone to remove footwear. BDB and HALOT give the core sense as 'slip/draw off'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 3:5 שַׁל־ take off

    “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

    Here: A command form of a verb meaning to slip or drop off. It is used of an axe-head flying off its handle (Deut 19:5) and of nations being cleared away (Deut 7:1). The picture is of letting the sandals fall away from the feet.

Deuteronomy · 4

  1. Deuteronomy 7:1 וְנָשַׁ֣ל and he will clear away

    When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—

    Here: 'And he will clear away / strip off.' This is a rare verb used for pulling off sandals or an axe-head slipping off its handle. Here God detaches the nations from the land as one removes something that is attached. It carries on the future sequence: 'brings... and clears away'.

  2. Deuteronomy 7:22 וְנָשַׁל֩ and he will clear away

    The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.

  3. Deuteronomy 19:5 וְנָשַׁ֤ל and it will slip off

    If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

  4. Deuteronomy 28:40 יִשַּׁ֖ל it will drop off

    You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 5:15 שַׁל־ take off

    The Commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

    Here: A command: 'slip it off'. It is the same verb and form God uses to Moses at the burning bush (Exod 3:5). Elsewhere the verb describes an axe-head flying off its handle or olives dropping from the tree, so the picture is of letting the sandal fall away.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 16:6 וַיְנַשֵּׁ֥ל and he cleared out

    At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, drove out the men of Judah, and sent the Edomites into Elath, where they live to this day.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.