שָׁבַר

Genesis 41:56 וַיִּשְׁבֹּ֣ר and he bought grain

When the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

Here: A verb formed from the noun *šeber*, 'grain'. The form here usually means 'buy grain', but the context clearly means Joseph *sold* or handed out grain for payment. Normally 'sell grain' uses a different form of the verb (as in 42:6, 'the one selling grain'). The point is that grain went out in exchange for payment. It was not a free handout.

Genesis 41:57 לִשְׁבֹּ֖ר to buy grain

And every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

Genesis 42:2 וְשִׁבְרוּ־ and buy grain

“Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

Genesis 42:3 לִשְׁבֹּ֥ר to buy grain

So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

Genesis 42:5 לִשְׁבֹּ֖ר to buy grain

So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.

Genesis 42:6 הַמַּשְׁבִּ֖יר [was] the [one who] sold grain

Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

Here: A verb form meaning 'the one who lets people buy grain', describing his ongoing role. Every buyer goes through him, so the brothers cannot avoid him.

Genesis 42:7 לִשְׁבָּר־ to buy

And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

Genesis 42:10 לִשְׁבָּר־ to buy

“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.

Genesis 43:2 שִׁבְרוּ־ buy

So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

Here: A command: "buy grain!" It is the verb that matches the noun for grain earlier in the verse, so in Hebrew he says, in effect, "grain-buy us". Placed right after shuvu, it makes a quick, sharp pair of sounds: shuvu shivru.

Genesis 43:4 וְנִשְׁבְּרָ֥ה and we will buy

If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.

Genesis 43:20 לִשְׁבָּר־ to buy

“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food.

Genesis 43:22 לִשְׁבָּר־ to buy

We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.”

Here: A verb made from the noun šeḇer, 'grain'. It means buying grain in particular, and it is the key word of the famine story in chapters 41-44.

Genesis 44:25 שִׁבְרוּ־ buy

Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’

Genesis 47:14 שֹׁבְרִ֑ים [were] buying grain

Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain they were buying, and he brought it into Pharaoh’s palace.

Here: A participle (a verb form for ongoing action): "were buying", again and again. It is the verb built from the noun just before it, so the Hebrew reads like "the grain-purchase they were grain-purchasing".

Deuteronomy 2:6 תִּשְׁבְּר֧וּ you will buy

You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

Deuteronomy 2:28 תַּשְׁבִּרֵ֙נִי֙ you will sell me

You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot,

Proverbs 11:26 מַשְׁבִּֽיר׃ [one who] sells grain

The people will curse the hoarder of grain, but blessing will crown the one who sells it.

Here: A causative participle of a verb formed from the noun šeber, 'grain for sale.' Literally it means 'one who lets [others] buy grain,' in other words a grain-seller. In Genesis 42:6 the same form describes Joseph: 'he was the one selling grain (hammašbîr) to all the people of the land.' Its object is understood, not stated. He is not giving the grain away. He is putting it on the market.

Isaiah 55:1 שִׁבְרוּ֙ שִׁבְר֗וּ buy grain

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!

Here: A specialised verb for buying grain or food rations, the word used of Joseph's brothers buying grain in Egypt during the famine. It is market language for buying the food you need to stay alive.

Amos 8:5 וְנַשְׁבִּ֣ירָה so we may sell grain

asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

Here: 'So that we can sell grain.' A verb made from the noun for grain, here in the causative form ('let others buy grain', i.e. sell). The form expresses what they want: 'let us get on with selling.'

Amos 8:6 נַשְׁבִּֽיר׃ we will sell grain

Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”

Here: 'We will sell grain'. This is the causative form of a verb made from the noun 'grain'. It picks up 'that we may sell grain' (wənašbîrāh šeber) in v. 5 and closes the merchants' speech in their own first-person voice.