Hebrew word · H7783

שׁוּק

heshiku

to overflow

To overflow, or to make something overflow. The word is rare. Its other uses are in Joel 2:24 and 3:13 (Hebrew 4:13), where the wine vats and oil vats 'overflow'. Some scholars link it to a related root šāqaq, meaning 'run about' or 'rush'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be abundant (meaning probable)

1a) (Polel) to give abundance to

1b) (Hiphil) to overflow

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 Psalm 65:9

Range of meaning

To overflow, or to make something overflow. The word is rare. Its other uses are in Joel 2:24 and 3:13 (Hebrew 4:13), where the wine vats and oil vats 'overflow'. Some scholars link it to a related root šāqaq, meaning 'run about' or 'rush'.

Against the English

Most English versions have 'water it', which is accurate but flat. NASB's 'cause it to overflow' keeps the excess, and the Greek Septuagint's 'made it drunk' (emethysas) goes further still. 'Water' sounds like a gardener's watering can. The Hebrew pictures ground soaked until it runs over.

Used elsewhere in the period

Joel 2:24, 'the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil', describes harvest abundance after God sends the early and later rains (Joel 2:23). That is the same setting as here.

From the study of Joel 2:24

Range of meaning

To overflow, run over. The causative form appears only in Joel 2:24 and 3:13 (Hebrew 4:13), both times with 'the vats' as subject. A related intensive form in Ps 65:9 (Hebrew 65:10) describes God watering the earth abundantly. Some scholars connect it with šāqâ, 'to give drink', but that is uncertain.

Against the English

'Overflow' (BSB, KJV, WEB and most modern versions) is accurate. The verb does not mean 'be filled'. It means the basin cannot hold what pours in.

Used elsewhere in the period

Joel 3:13 (Hebrew 4:13): 'the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great', where the image becomes judgment on the nations. Revelation 14:18–20 later draws on this harvest-and-winepress image. Prov 3:10 offers a similar picture of blessing with different words: 'your vats will burst with new wine'.

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 65:9 וַתְּשֹׁ֪קְקֶ֡הָ and you made overflow it

    You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.

    Here: 'And you made her overflow': God waters the ground until it runs over. The verb is rare. Its only other uses are in Joel 2:24 and 3:13 (Hebrew 4:13), where the vats overflow with wine and oil, so the picture is one of excess.

Joel · 2

  1. Joel 2:24 וְהֵשִׁ֥יקוּ and they will overflow

    The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

    Here: "And they will run over." A rare verb: the collecting vats get more liquid than they can hold. The same form comes back in 3:13 (Hebrew 4:13), where it pictures judgment on the nations.

  2. Joel 3:13 הֵשִׁ֙יקוּ֙ they are overflowing

    Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.

    Here: 'They overflow.' This is a rare verb, used elsewhere in the Bible only in Joel 2:24, where it described the vats overflowing with new wine as a blessing. Here the same words describe judgment.

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