Hebrew word · H7757

שׁוּל

shulayikh

hem

The hem, skirt or lower edges of a long garment. It appears only in the plural, 'skirts'.

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

1) skirt (of robe)

1a) of high priest's robe

1b) of God's train, city as woman, ignominy, defilement (fig)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: The hem, skirt or lower edges of a long garment. It appears only in the plural, 'skirts'. Uses: the hem of the high priest's robe, with its bells and pomegranates (Exod 28:33–34; 39:24–26); a woman's skirts lifted to shame her (Jer 13:22, 26; Nah 3:5); Jerusalem's uncleanness 'in her skirts' (Lam 1:9).
Against the English: KJV, ESV, NIV, BSB and WEB say 'train' (most add 'of his robe'). NET and CSB say 'hem'. In modern English a 'train' is the long fabric trailing behind a bride or monarch. The Hebrew word does not say the garment trails behind. It names the bottom edges of the garment all around.
How it drifted: Older English 'train' meant the hanging lower part of a robe, which was close enough. Today it calls up a wedding-dress train, and that has encouraged sermons about the train's length (see popular_drift).
Used elsewhere in the period: Across the ancient Near East the hem of a garment carried meaning. Seizing someone's hem was a gesture of pleading or submission. Mari letters from Mesopotamia (18th century BC) mention sending a prophet's hem with a lock of hair to vouch for an oracle. Cutting a hem could carry legal or political weight (compare David cutting the 'corner', a different word, of Saul's robe, 1 Sam 24:4–5; and 1 Sam 15:27–28). None of these sources describes a robe lengthened by conquests.

Range of meaning: The lower edge, hem or trailing skirt of a long garment. It is used of the high priest's robe (Exodus 28:33–34), of God's royal robe filling the temple (Isaiah 6:1, 'his train'), and of a woman's skirts.
Against the English: 'Skirts' works if read as the flowing lower part of a robe. A modern reader may picture a separate piece of clothing, a woman's skirt, which misses the image of a long robe pulled up from the hem.
How it drifted: In older English 'skirts' meant the lower, loose part of any long garment, a man's coat included. The modern sense of a separate women's garment came later.
Used elsewhere in the period: Jeremiah 13:26: 'I myself will strip your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.' Nahum 3:5 says the same to Nineveh. Lamentations 1:9 says of Jerusalem, 'her uncleanness was in her skirts.' Isaiah 47:2 tells Babylon, 'strip off the skirt, bare the leg.'

Range of meaning: The hem or lower edge of a long garment. It is used of the high priest's robe, hung with bells and pomegranates (Exod 28:33–34), and of the train of God's robe filling the temple (Isa 6:1). Of a woman, it is the skirt whose lifting means exposure and disgrace (Jer 13:22, 26; Nah 3:5).
Against the English: 'Skirts' (KJV, BSB, WEB, NASB) is accurate. BSB's 'stains her skirts' and NIV's 'clung to her skirts' add a verb to make the picture vivid; the Hebrew simply says it is 'in her skirts'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Jer 13:22: 'your skirts are uncovered'. Nah 3:5 (against Nineveh): 'I will lift your skirts over your face.' Both are images of public sexual shaming of a city personified as a woman.

Exodus · 6

Exodus 28:33 שׁוּלָ֗יו שׁוּלָ֖יו skirt its

Make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn all the way around the lower hem, with gold bells between them,
Exodus 28:34 שׁוּלֵ֥י [the] skirts of

alternating the gold bells and pomegranates around the lower hem of the robe.
Exodus 39:24 שׁוּלֵ֣י [the] skirts of

They made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely spun linen on the lower hem of the robe.
Exodus 39:25 שׁוּלֵ֤י [the] skirts of

They also made bells of pure gold and attached them around the hem between the pomegranates,
Exodus 39:26 שׁוּלֵ֥י [the] skirts of

alternating the bells and pomegranates around the lower hem of the robe to be worn for ministry, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 6:1 וְשׁוּלָ֖יו and [the] skirts of robe his

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.

Here: 'And his skirts', the lower edges of a long garment. The Hebrew does not say 'robe' or 'train'. It says 'his hems/skirts', and the robe is implied. Only the lowest edge of what he wears is enough to fill the hall.

Jeremiah · 2

Jeremiah 13:22 שׁוּלַ֖יִךְ skirts your

And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

Here: 'Your skirts': the long lower edges of a robe. Lifting them shows the lower body. It was a recognised public shaming of a woman (13:26; Nahum 3:5; Lamentations 1:9).
Jeremiah 13:26 שׁוּלַ֖יִךְ skirts your

So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.

Lamentations · 1

Lamentations 1:9 בְּשׁוּלֶ֗יהָ [was] on skirts her

Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!

Here: 'In her skirts': the lower hem of a long robe. The prophets use this word for a woman's private shame being exposed (Jer 13:22, 26; Nah 3:5), so the stain sits exactly where everyone can see it and where it is most humiliating.

Nahum · 1

Nahum 3:5 שׁוּלַ֖יִךְ skirts your

“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.

Here: The lower edges of her long robe. Lifting them up exposes her body. In Isaiah 6:1 the same word is the train of God's robe filling the temple.

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