Hebrew word · H7641

שִׁבֹּ֫לֶת

shibolet

ear

There are two meanings, usually treated as two words that sound the same: (1) an ear of grain or a head of grain (Genesis 41:5–7; Ruth 2:2; Isaiah 17:5); (2) a flowing stream, a flood-current (Psalm 69:2, 15).

Appears 19 times in 16 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) ear (of grain), head of grain

1a) as growing

1b) cluster

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 Isaiah 27:12

Range of meaning

There are two meanings, usually treated as two words that sound the same: (1) an ear of grain or a head of grain (Genesis 41:5–7; Ruth 2:2; Isaiah 17:5); (2) a flowing stream, a flood-current (Psalm 69:2, 15). This is the famous "shibboleth" of Judges 12:6, where the Gileadites tested Ephraimites by how they said it.

Against the English

BSB, NIV and WEB fold it into "the flowing Euphrates / flowing stream"; KJV has "channel"; YLT "branch." Every English version has to pick one meaning, so the pun is lost.

How it drifted

There is no drift in the sense of a wrong meaning. The loss is the double meaning, which no single English word carries.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 17:5 pairs the same two words, gleaning (לקט) and ears of grain (שִׁבֳּלִים), in a judgment on northern Israel: it will be like the scraps left after a gleaner has gone through the Valley of Rephaim. The Septuagint reads "from the canal (διῶρυξ) of the River," taking the stream meaning.

From the study of Psalm 69:2

Range of meaning

A flowing stream, current, flood. A separate word with the same spelling means an ear of grain (Genesis 41; Ruth 2:2). The supplied data correctly identifies the 'stream' sense here.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have plural 'floods', while the Hebrew is singular (YLT and BSB have it right). English 'flood' tends to suggest water spreading over land, whereas this word suggests a moving current with direction and force.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 69:15 repeats the word in the prayer not to be swept away. Isaiah 27:12 uses it of the stream of the Euphrates. It is the famous password at the Jordan fords in Judges 12:6, the source of the English word 'shibboleth', although whether 'stream' or 'ear of grain' was meant there is disputed.

From the study of Job 24:24

Range of meaning

An ear of grain, wheat or barley (Genesis 41:5–7, Pharaoh's dream of the ears; Ruth 2:2, gleaning ears). A second word with the same spelling means "flowing stream" (Psalm 69:2, 15). It is the famous "shibboleth" of Judges 12:6, where the intended sense is uncertain.

Against the English

KJV "ears of corn": "corn" here means grain in general, not American maize. Modern versions say "grain."

How it drifted

In older British English "corn" meant any cereal crop. In American English it came to mean maize, a New World plant unknown in the ancient Near East.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 41; Ruth 2:2; Isaiah 17:5 ("as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears"), a close image of judgment as reaping the heads of grain.

Where it appears

Genesis · 10

  1. Genesis 41:5 שִׁבֳּלִ֗ים ears of grain

    but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.

  2. Genesis 41:6 שִׁבֳּלִ֔ים ears of grain

    After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind.

  3. Genesis 41:7 הַשִּׁבֳּלִ֣ים הַֽשִּׁבֳּלִ֔ים the ears of grain

    And the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, ripe ones. Then Pharaoh awoke and realized it was a dream.

  4. Genesis 41:22 שִׁבֳּלִ֗ים ears of grain

    In my dream I also saw seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, growing on a single stalk.

  5. Genesis 41:23 שִׁבֳּלִ֔ים ears of grain

    After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind.

  6. Genesis 41:24 הָשִׁבֳּלִ֣ים הַֽשִׁבֳּלִ֖ים the ears of grain

    And the thin heads of grain swallowed the seven plump ones. I told this dream to the magicians, but no one could explain it to me.”

  7. Genesis 41:26 הַֽשִּׁבֳּלִים֙ the ears of grain

    The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning.

  8. Genesis 41:27 הַֽשִׁבֳּלִים֙ the ears of grain

    Moreover, the seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind—they are seven years of famine.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 12:6 שִׁבֹּ֜לֶת Shibboleth

    they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.

Ruth · 1

  1. Ruth 2:2 בַשִׁבֳּלִ֔ים among the ears of grain

    And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go into the fields and glean heads of grain after someone in whose sight I may find favor.” “Go ahead, my daughter,” Naomi replied.

Job · 1

  1. Job 24:24 שִׁבֹּ֣לֶת grain

    They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

    Here: An ear of wheat or barley. Together with "head," it pictures the full, ripe tip of the grain stalk: the very top of the crop.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 69:2 וְשִׁבֹּ֥לֶת and a flood

    I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

    Here: Flowing water with force behind it, a current rather than a still pool. It is singular, one stream that carries everything with it.

  2. Psalm 69:15 שִׁבֹּ֣לֶת a flood of

    Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 17:5 שִׁבֳּלִ֣ים שִׁבֳּלִ֖ים ears of grain

    as the reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the ears with his arm, as one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

  2. Isaiah 27:12 מִשִּׁבֹּ֥לֶת from [the] flowing stream of

    In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one.

    Here: The word means both "ear of grain" and "flowing current." Here it does double duty: it marks a boundary (the current of the River) and keeps the harvest picture going (the ears of grain being beaten).

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 4:12 שִׁבֲּלֵ֣י [the] clusters of

    And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes from which the golden oil pours?”

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