שָׁבַר

From the study of Psalm 34:18

Range of meaning

Shavar: to break, smash, shatter (pots, bones, bows, ships, yokes); in the passive form, to be broken. Lev: the inner person, the seat of thought, understanding, decision, courage and emotion. Israelites thought and decided "in the heart" (Prov 16:9).

Against the English

English "brokenhearted" mostly means overwhelmed with grief, often over love or loss. The Hebrew phrase is wider: the inner core has broken, including courage, resolve and the ability to cope, as well as sorrow.

How it drifted

In English, the "heart" came to stand mainly for emotion, especially romantic feeling, while thinking was given to the head. Hebrew had no such split.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 61:1: "to bind up the broken of heart" (the exiles' despair). Ps 147:3: "He heals the broken of heart and binds up their wounds." Jer 23:9: "My heart is broken within me," Jeremiah's distress over false prophets. Ps 51:17 (Heb 51:19): "a broken and crushed heart" in a confession of sin.

From the study of Proverbs 29:1

Range of meaning

To break, smash, shatter, used for pottery (Isa 30:14), bones and limbs (Exod 12:46; Ps 34:20), yokes and bars (Lev 26:13; Jer 28), ships and trees. Figuratively it means ruin or collapse ("pride goes before shever", Prov 16:18).

Against the English

KJV and WEB, and NIV and NLT too, say "destroyed", a general word with no picture in it. BSB's "shattered" and YLT's "broken" keep the physical image of something snapping.

How it drifted

"Destroyed" can lead a modern reader, especially one shaped by revival preaching, to hear final or eternal destruction. The Hebrew picture is a break: sudden, physical and beyond repair.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same phrase "in an instant he will be broken, and there is no healing" closes the portrait of the troublemaker in Proverbs 6:15. Isaiah 30:13–14 pairs petaʿ ("suddenly") with breaking: a bulging wall collapses "in an instant" and shatters like a smashed clay jar.

From the study of Isaiah 14:25

Range of meaning

To break, shatter, smash: pottery (Jer 19:10–11), bones (Exod 12:46), trees, ships, weapons. Figuratively, to crush a nation's power or break a yoke (Lev 26:13; Jer 28:10–13; Ezek 34:27). In the intensive stem it means to smash to pieces.

Against the English

"Break" (BSB, KJV, ESV, NASB) is accurate. NIV's "crush" catches the violence but loses the link with a yoke-bar being snapped.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 26:13: "I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright." Jer 28:2, 4, 11: "I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon." Nahum 1:13: "I will break his yoke from off you." Breaking the yoke was a fixed image for freeing people from foreign rule.