Hebrew word · H7675

שֶׁ֫בֶת

shevet

seat

A noun from yāšab, 'to sit, dwell, remain, sit enthroned, sit in judgment.' It can mean a sitting, a seat, a place of residence (2 Samuel 23:7; 1 Kings 10:19 uses a related form for a throne-seat), or the condition of staying put (Isaiah 30:7, 'Rahab who sits still').

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

(Qal) seat, dwelling, place

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 Amos 6:3

Range of meaning

A noun from yāšab, 'to sit, dwell, remain, sit enthroned, sit in judgment.' It can mean a sitting, a seat, a place of residence (2 Samuel 23:7; 1 Kings 10:19 uses a related form for a throne-seat), or the condition of staying put (Isaiah 30:7, 'Rahab who sits still').

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV and YLT: 'seat of violence.' NIV: 'reign of terror'; BSB: 'reign of violence.' 'Seat' keeps the image but can sound like furniture. 'Reign' explains the image but chooses one interpretation and loses the courtroom overtone of 'sitting.'

Used elsewhere in the period

Yāšab is the standard verb for a king sitting on a throne and for judges sitting at the city gate. Amos 5:10–15 places Israel's corruption 'in the gate,' where elders sat to judge. The Vulgate gives solium iniquitatis, 'throne of iniquity.' The Septuagint apparently read šabbāt, 'sabbath.'

From the study of Lamentations 3:63

Range of meaning

From יָשַׁב (yashav), 'to sit, remain, dwell'. As a noun, shevet means 'seat, place of sitting, staying'. Here it is tagged as a verb form, 'their sitting'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT 'their sitting down'. BSB recasts the phrase as a time clause, 'when they sit'. Both are fair.

Used elsewhere in the period

See the sit/rise idiom above (Ps 139:2; Deut 6:7). Sitting is also the posture of people gathered to talk and pass judgement (e.g. Ps 69:12 [Heb 13] 'those who sit in the gate talk about me').

Similar words

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 23:7 בַּשָּֽׁבֶת׃ פ at the dwelling

    The man who touches them must be armed with iron or with the shaft of a spear. The fire burns them to ashes in the place where they lie.”

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 10:19 הַשָּׁ֑בֶת the sitting

    The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 9:18 הַשָּׁ֑בֶת the sitting

    The throne had six steps, and a footstool of gold was attached to it. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:63 שִׁבְתָּ֤ם sitting their

    When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.

    Here: A verb form meaning 'their sitting (down)', from the common verb 'to sit, dwell'. It opens a pair with the next word: sitting and rising together mean everything they do, all day long.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 6:3 שֶׁ֥בֶת a seat of

    You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.

    Here: From the verb 'to sit,' which is also the verb for sitting in judgment and sitting on a throne. A 'sitting of violence' means violence settled in, installed and presiding. Hence modern versions translate it 'reign.'

Obadiah · 1

  1. Obadiah 1:3 שִׁבְתּ֑וֹ dwelling his

    The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

    Here: 'His dwelling', literally 'his sitting': where he sits enthroned or settled. The speech shifts from 'you' to 'his', as Hebrew poetry often does. The picture is someone seated high up, out of reach.

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