Hebrew word · H7647

שָׂבָע

sava'

abundance

Satiety, fullness, plenty: the state of having eaten one's fill, and by extension an abundance of food. It comes from the verb savaʿ, 'to be sated, satisfied.'

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) plenty, satiety

1a) plenty (of breadstuffs)

1b) satiety

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 Proverbs 3:10

Range of meaning

Satiety, fullness, plenty: the state of having eaten one's fill, and by extension an abundance of food. It comes from the verb savaʿ, 'to be sated, satisfied.'

Against the English

'Plenty' (KJV, BSB, WEB, NASB) is accurate. NIV's 'filled to overflowing' turns it into a picture of excess. The Hebrew word is more about having enough to be fully satisfied than about overflowing surplus, although the parallel line does supply the overflow.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 41:29–34 uses it for the 'seven years of great plenty' in Egypt. Eccl 5:12 speaks of 'the abundance (savaʿ) of the rich' that will not let them sleep. Proverbs knows the risk of fullness: 'lest I be sated (esbaʿ) and deny you' (Prov 30:9).

From the study of Genesis 41:34

Range of meaning

Fullness, plenty: the condition of being filled or sated with food. It comes from the verb meaning 'to eat one's fill'. It can be good (plenty) or carry a warning (being sated and then forgetting, as in Deut 8:10–14).

Against the English

'Plenty', 'abundance' and 'plenteous' all fit. What gets lost is the bodily picture of a full stomach and the sound play with 'seven'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In this chapter, Genesis 41:29–31 and 41:47–53 repeat 'seven years of sava'' against 'seven years of famine'. The narrator stresses that the plenty will be 'forgotten' (41:30), which fits the word's wider use for the fullness that dulls memory.

Where it appears

Genesis · 6

  1. Genesis 41:29 שָׂבָ֥ע plenty

    Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,

  2. Genesis 41:30 הַשָּׂבָ֖ע the plenty

    but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will devastate the land.

  3. Genesis 41:31 הַשָּׂבָע֙ the plenty

    The abundance in the land will not be remembered, since the famine that follows it will be so severe.

  4. Genesis 41:34 הַשָּׂבָֽע׃ <the> plenty

    Let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

    Here: 'The plenty', literally 'the being full', having eaten your fill. It sounds almost the same as 'seven' (shéva') two words earlier, which makes the phrase easy to remember: 'shéva' … sava''.

  5. Genesis 41:47 הַשָּׂבָ֑ע <the> plenty

    During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully.

  6. Genesis 41:53 הַשָּׂבָ֑ע <the> plenty

    When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 3:10 שָׂבָ֑ע plenty

    then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

    Here: The noun comes from 'to eat one's fill, be satisfied.' It describes enough food to be full, the 'years of plenty' in Joseph's Egypt (Gen 41:29). Grammatically it names what fills the stores: 'filled with plenty.'

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 5:12 וְהַשָּׂבָע֙ and the plenty

    The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.

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