Hebrew word · H7858

שֶׁ֫טֶף

veshetef

flood

Flood, torrent, overflowing water. From the verb shāṭaf, 'to overflow, rinse, wash away'. Used of floodwaters that destroy (Nah 1:8; Dan 9:26; Ps 32:6) and of a downpour (Job 38:25).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

flood, downpour

Also means: she.tseph (שֶׁצֶף "overflowing" H8241)

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 Proverbs 27:4

Range of meaning: Flood, torrent, overflowing water. From the verb shāṭaf, 'to overflow, rinse, wash away'. Used of floodwaters that destroy (Nah 1:8; Dan 9:26; Ps 32:6) and of a downpour (Job 38:25).
Against the English: BSB 'like a flood', NASB 'a flood' and YLT 'overflowing' keep the image. KJV 'outrageous' and WEB/ESV 'overwhelming' turn it into an abstract word. 'Overwhelming' keeps some of the force but loses the water.
How it drifted: KJV's 'outrageous' meant 'going beyond bounds, excessive, violent' in 1611. That fits the image of water over its banks, but today the word means 'shocking' or 'scandalous'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Nah 1:8; Ps 32:6 ('the rush of great waters'); Dan 9:26 ('its end will come with a flood'). In Isa 28:2, 15, 17–18 the related verb describes an 'overflowing scourge', an invading army that sweeps through like floodwater.

From the study of Daniel 9:26

Range of meaning: A flood, an overflowing torrent. In the prophets it is the standard picture of an invading army or of overwhelming judgment: Assyria as the river that 'overflows' Judah up to the neck (Isaiah 8:7–8), the 'overflowing scourge' (Isaiah 28:15–18), 'with an overrunning flood he will make a full end' (Nahum 1:8).
Against the English: BSB has 'like a flood', which makes it a simile. KJV, WEB and ESV have 'with a flood'. Hebrew has 'in/with the flood', with the article: a particular, expected flood.
Used elsewhere in the period: Daniel 11 keeps returning to the image: armies 'overflow and pass through' (11:10, 40), and 'the arms of the flood shall be swept away before him… and also the prince of the covenant' (11:22). Isaiah 10:22–23 combines the same root (shotef) with 'decreed' (charutz) and 'full end' (kalah), and Daniel 9:26–27 echoes that passage.

From the study of Nahum 1:8

Range of meaning: A torrent, flood, downpour that overflows its banks; from the verb shataf, 'to wash away, overflow, rinse'. Used literally of floodwater (Job 38:25; Ps 32:6 'the rush of great waters') and figuratively for overwhelming force: anger (Prov 27:4, 'a flood of anger'), and especially an invading army (Dan 11:22, 26 with the verb).
Against the English: English 'flood' is accurate, but modern readers tend to picture a slow-rising river or Noah's deluge. Shetef is a violent, sweeping rush: a flash flood in a wadi, or an army that pours over a land. 'Overwhelming' (BSB) and 'overflowing/overrunning' (WEB, KJV) catch the motion.
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 8:7–8 pictures the king of Assyria as the River (Euphrates) that 'will sweep (shataf) into Judah, overflow and pass through (ʿavar)'. Isaiah 28:15, 18–19 speaks of the 'overwhelming scourge' (shot shotef) that 'passes through' (yaʿavor). Assyrian royal inscriptions regularly compare the king and his army to the Deluge (Akkadian abūbu) flattening enemy lands. Greek tradition (Diodorus Siculus 2.26–27, drawing on Ctesias) says Nineveh fell when the swollen river broke down part of its wall.

Where it appears

Job · 1

Job 38:25 לַשֶּׁ֣טֶף for the flood

Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,

Psalms · 1

Psalm 32:6 לְ֭שֵׁטֶף to a flood of

Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.

Here: A sudden, sweeping rush of water, like a dry wadi turned into a torrent by a storm. It is used as a picture of overwhelming disaster or judgment.

Proverbs · 1

Proverbs 27:4 וְשֶׁ֣טֶף and [the] flood of

Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?

Here: 'And the flood of...': a torrent that overflows its banks and sweeps things away. Anger is pictured as a flash flood: sudden, violent, carrying everything off.

Daniel · 2

Daniel 9:26 בַשֶּׁ֔טֶף [will be] by <the> flood

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.

Here: 'In / with the flood', with the article: the flood the prophets warned about. In the prophets and in Daniel 11, an overflowing flood is a standard picture of an invading army sweeping over a land.
Daniel 11:22 הַשֶּׁ֛טֶף the flood

Then a flood of forces will be swept away before him and destroyed, along with a prince of the covenant.

Nahum · 1

Nahum 1:8 וּבְשֶׁ֣טֶף and with a flood

But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.

Here: A rushing torrent or flash flood that sweeps everything along. The 'and' sets this verse against v. 7: the LORD is a stronghold for those who shelter in him, *but* a flood for his enemies.

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