Hebrew word · H7791

שׁוּר

shur

wall

Wall. Rare and poetic in Hebrew (Gen 49:22; possibly Job 24:11 'terraces'), but the normal word for city walls in Biblical Aramaic (Ezra 4:12, 13, 16). The usual Hebrew prose word for a city wall is חוֹמָה.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

wall

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 18:29

Range of meaning

Wall. Rare and poetic in Hebrew (Gen 49:22; possibly Job 24:11 'terraces'), but the normal word for city walls in Biblical Aramaic (Ezra 4:12, 13, 16). The usual Hebrew prose word for a city wall is חוֹמָה.

Against the English

All major versions say 'wall'; NLT 'any wall' makes it general.

How it drifted

Modern readers hear 'wall' as any obstacle or a garden wall. In a war song set next to a raiding band, the first hearers would picture a defended rampart, a fortification standing between attacker and victory.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Aramaic usage in Ezra refers to Jerusalem's city walls. Iron Age Levantine towns were ringed by massive stone or casemate walls. Assyrian palace reliefs (e.g. Lachish) show siege ladders and ramps used to get over them.

From the study of Genesis 49:22

Range of meaning

A rare poetic word for a wall (2 Samuel 22:30 = Psalm 18:29; plural in Job 24:11 for terrace walls or rows where olives are pressed). It is related to Aramaic shûrā, 'wall'. Words spelled the same way include 'ox' (shôr), the verb 'to look, gaze' (shûr), and the desert of Shur on Egypt's border (Genesis 16:7; 25:18).

Against the English

English versions mostly say 'wall'. NJPS says 'hillside', and NLT says 'ridge'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Psalm 18:29 it is the barrier a warrior leaps over with God's help. Job 24:11 probably refers to terraced vineyard or olive-grove walls. Rashi's reading (women climbing up to gaze) may play on the verb 'to gaze'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:22 שֽׁוּר׃ a wall

    Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.

    Here: A rare poetic word for a wall, used again in 2 Samuel 22:30 / Psalm 18:29 ('by my God I leap over a wall'). The picture is probably a terrace or enclosure wall in a vineyard. Other interpreters read it as 'hillside', 'ridge', or the related verb 'to gaze'.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:30 שֽׁוּר׃ a wall

    For in You I can charge an army; with my God I can scale a wall.

Job · 1

  1. Job 24:11 שׁוּרֹתָ֥ם rows their

    They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 18:29 שֽׁוּר׃ a wall

    For in You I can charge an army, and with my God I can scale a wall.

    Here: A rare, poetic word for a wall (Gen 49:22; it is the ordinary Aramaic word for city walls in Ezra 4:12–16). Paired with a raiding band, it most naturally means a defensive wall or rampart, the kind an attacker has to get over.

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