Hebrew word · H7589

שְׁאָט

bish'at

scorn

Contempt, scorn, disdain, malice: treating someone as worthless. The related verb (shuṭ/shaʾaṭ) means to despise or treat with contempt.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

despite, contempt

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

Range of meaning: Contempt, scorn, disdain, malice: treating someone as worthless. The related verb (shuṭ/shaʾaṭ) means to despise or treat with contempt.
Against the English: KJV 'despiteful heart', BSB 'malice', WEB/NASB 'contempt/scorn'. 'Malice' stresses intent to harm. 'Contempt/scorn' is closer to the core, which is looking down on someone and gloating over them.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ezekiel 25:6, where Ammon 'rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul' over Israel's land, is an almost identical phrase. Ezekiel 16:57 speaks of 'the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you' with the same root, and 28:24, 26 of neighbours 'who treat them with contempt'. In honour-shame societies, scorning a defeated neighbour was an act of aggression in its own right.

Range of meaning: Contempt, scorn, disdain. It comes from a root meaning 'to despise, treat with contempt' (the participle šāʾṭîm, 'those who despise', appears in Ezekiel 16:57; 28:24, 26). The noun occurs only in Ezekiel: 25:6, 25:15 (the Philistines) and 36:5 (Edom and the nations).
Against the English: Translations use 'contempt', 'scorn', 'malice' or 'despite' (KJV). 'Malice' adds the idea of wanting harm. 'Contempt' or 'scorn' is closer to the core, which is looking down on someone as worthless, though in context the gloating clearly carries hostility.
How it drifted: KJV 'despite' meant 'contempt, scornful ill-will' in 1611. To modern readers it is only a preposition ('in spite of'), so the KJV line now reads oddly or not at all.
Used elsewhere in the period: Every use pairs it with nepeš ('soul, inner self'): 'with contempt of soul' (25:6, 15; 36:5). In 36:5 it stands beside 'with wholehearted joy' and concerns nations who seized Israel's land 'as plunder'. It is a fixed phrase in Ezekiel's indictment of the neighbours who profited from Judah's fall.

Range of meaning: Contempt, disdain, malicious scorn. The related verb שׁוּט II / שָׁאט means 'to despise, treat with contempt' (Ezek 16:57; 28:24, 26).
Against the English: KJV and WEB: 'despite(ful)' (archaic). BSB and ESV: 'utter contempt'. NIV: 'malice'.
How it drifted: In older English 'despite' was a noun meaning scornful contempt. Today it is mostly a preposition meaning 'in spite of', so the KJV/WEB phrase 'with despite of soul' is now opaque.
Used elsewhere in the period: It occurs only three times, all in Ezekiel, all with nefesh ('soul, self'): 25:6 (Ammon), 25:15 (Philistia) and here (Edom). In the oracles against the nations it is the fixed expression for neighbours gloating over Judah.

Ezekiel · 3

Ezekiel 25:6 שָֽׁאטְךָ֙ scorn your

For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you clapped your hands and stomped your feet and rejoiced over the land of Israel with a heart full of contempt,

Here: 'Your contempt'. A rare word found in Ezekiel's oracles against Israel's gloating neighbours (25:6, 15; 36:5). It means sneering disdain for someone you think beneath you.
Ezekiel 25:15 בִּשְׁאָ֣ט with scorn

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, taking vengeance with malice of soul to destroy Judah with ancient hostility,

Here: 'With contempt': gloating scorn for a humiliated neighbour. Ezekiel uses it only for the nations around Judah (25:6, 25:15; compare 28:24, 26 and 16:57).
Ezekiel 36:5 בִּשְׁאָ֣ט with scorn of

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder.

Here: 'With contempt of'. A rare word, found only in Ezekiel (25:6, 15; 36:5), always for neighbours' scornful glee over Judah.

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