Hebrew word · H7886

שִׁילֹה

shiloh

"tribute"

Nowhere else does this word clearly serve as a personal name or title.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, only mentioned at Gen.49.10; also translated "tribute"

meaning uncertain

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 Genesis 49:10

Range of meaning

Nowhere else does this word clearly serve as a personal name or title. Proposed meanings: (1) a title or name, 'Shiloh', perhaps linked to šālâ, 'be at ease, at rest' (Strong's: 'tranquil'); (2) šay lōh, 'tribute to him' (šay, 'gift, tribute', Psalm 68:29 [Eng.]; 76:11; Isaiah 18:7); (3) šellōh, 'that which is his / he to whom it belongs'; (4) the town of Shiloh, where the tabernacle later stood.

Against the English

KJV, NASB and BSB keep 'Shiloh' as a proper name. NIV, WEB and NLT read 'he to whom it belongs'. ESV and NRSV read 'tribute comes to him'. YLT's 'his Seed' reflects an older guess linking the word to šilyâ, 'afterbirth' (Deuteronomy 28:57), and is not followed today.

How it drifted

Popular use has turned 'Shiloh' into a fixed name of the Messiah. That use is ancient (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b: 'Shiloh is his name'). Still, the earliest translations (Greek, Aramaic Targum, Syriac) did not translate it as a name. They read it as 'what / whose it is'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 21:32 [Eng. 21:27], 'until he comes whose right it is' (ʿad-bōʾ ʾăšer-lô hammišpāṭ), is widely seen as a deliberate echo and supports reading (3). Targum Onqelos: 'until the Messiah comes, to whom the kingdom belongs'. Dead Sea Scroll 4Q252: 'until the Messiah of righteousness comes, the Branch of David'. W. L. Moran (Biblica 1958) argued for 'tribute to him', which NJPS, NRSV and ESV adopt. In the consonantal text of verse 11 next door, 'his' is twice spelled with a final h (עירה, סותה). That makes it plausible that שילה ends in 'his' too. For the place reading, compare 1 Samuel 4:12, wayyāḇōʾ šilōh, 'and came to Shiloh'.

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:10 שִׁיל֔וֹ Shiloh

    The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

    Here: The most debated word in the verse. Possible readings: a name or title ('Shiloh'); šay lōh, 'tribute to him'; šellōh, 'that which is his / the one to whom it belongs'; or the town of Shiloh. Every reading gives the same overall picture of Judah's rule coming to its fulfilment.

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