Hebrew word · H7909

שַׁכּוּל

shakul

childless

Bereaved: someone who has lost offspring. The root š-k-l is the core Hebrew vocabulary for losing children: Rebekah fears being 'bereaved of you both' (Gen 27:45), and Jacob says 'if I am bereaved, I am bereaved' (Gen 43:14). It is used of animals (bears; ewes in Song 4:2) and of people (Jer 18:21).

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) childless (through bereavement)

2) bereaved, robbed of offspring

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 Hosea 13:8

Range of meaning

Bereaved: someone who has lost offspring. The root š-k-l is the core Hebrew vocabulary for losing children: Rebekah fears being 'bereaved of you both' (Gen 27:45), and Jacob says 'if I am bereaved, I am bereaved' (Gen 43:14). It is used of animals (bears; ewes in Song 4:2) and of people (Jer 18:21).

Against the English

BSB, NIV and ESV say 'robbed of her cubs'. KJV says 'bereaved [of her whelps]' and puts the supplied words in italics. The Hebrew is just 'a bereaved bear'. 'Robbed' adds the idea of theft. 'Bereaved' keeps the sound of grief that the word carries.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same phrase dōb šakkûl appears in 2 Sam 17:8, where Hushai says David's men are 'enraged like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field', and in Prov 17:12. In Lev 26:22 the covenant curse says: 'I will send the wild beast among you, and it will bereave you (wĕšikkĕlâ) of your children.' Deut 32:25 has the sword that 'bereaves'.

From the study of Isaiah 49:21

Range of meaning

Bereaved specifically of children. The root covers losing offspring (by death, war or capture) and also miscarriage or unfruitfulness (the verb can mean 'miscarry', Gen 31:38; Exod 23:26). The adjective describes a parent, most often a mother, or even an animal robbed of its young (a bear robbed of her cubs, 2 Sam 17:8; Hos 13:8).

Against the English

BSB, ESV and NIV have 'bereaved'. KJV has 'I have lost my children' and WEB 'bereaved of my children'. Plain 'bereaved' is accurate but loses the point that the loss is of children; in modern English 'bereaved' can apply to any death. The KJV and WEB wording keeps the point.

How it drifted

Modern 'bereaved' became a general word for mourning anyone, while the Hebrew word belongs to parents.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rebekah says 'Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?' (Gen 27:45). Jacob says 'If I am bereaved, I am bereaved' (Gen 43:14). Samuel tells Agag 'your mother shall be childless among women' (1 Sam 15:33). Most important, Isaiah 47:8–9 has Babylon boast 'I will not know loss of children (šəkôl)', and God answers that loss of children and widowhood will come on her in one day. The same word appears in 49:20, 'the children of your bereavement.'

From the study of Jeremiah 18:21

Range of meaning

Bereaved, robbed of offspring. The root sh-k-l means to lose children (Gen 27:45; 43:14, "if I am bereaved, I am bereaved"). It is used of a bear robbed of her cubs (2 Sam 17:8; Hos 13:8; Prov 17:12). A related adjective, shakkulah, describes a woman or animal that miscarries or loses young (Song 4:2; 6:6; Exod 23:26).

Against the English

KJV "bereaved of their children" is exact. BSB, WEB, NIV and ESV say "childless," which a modern reader may take to mean infertile or never having had children.

How it drifted

In modern English "childless" usually means having no children, often through infertility or choice. The Hebrew word is about losing children who were alive.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lam 1:20 and Ezek 36:12–14 (the land that "bereaves" its people) use the root for loss caused by war and famine. The bear image shows its emotional weight: the fury and grief of a mother whose young have been taken.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 17:8 שַׁכּ֖וּל robbed of cubs

    He continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty men, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Moreover, your father is a man of war who will not spend the night with the troops.

    Here: From the root for losing one's children. The bear has lost her cubs and will attack anything nearby. The form is grammatically masculine, used generically, but the picture is plainly the mother bear.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 17:12 שַׁכּ֣וּל robbed of cubs

    It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

    Here: This word comes from the vocabulary of human grief over losing children. The bear has been 'bereaved' of her cubs and is wild with loss and rage. It is the most dangerous state such an animal can be in.

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 4:2 וְשַׁכֻּלָ֖ה and [is one] deprived of offspring

    Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.

    Here: 'And a bereaved one', a ewe that has lost her young. Applied to teeth, it means no gap anywhere: not one tooth missing.

  2. Song of Songs 6:6 וְשַׁכֻּלָ֖ה and [is one] deprived of offspring

    Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 49:21 שְׁכוּלָ֖ה [was] bereaved

    Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”

    Here: This is the specific word for a parent whose children have died or been taken. It is not general sadness. It picks up 'the children of your bereavement' in v. 20.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 18:21 שַׁכֻּלוֹת֙ childless

    Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

    Here: Women who have lost children they bore, not women who never had children. It follows directly from the first clause: the sons given to famine and sword are these women's sons.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 13:8 שַׁכּ֔וּל robbed of cubs

    Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart.

    Here: 'Bereaved', meaning she has lost her young. The bereaved bear was a proverbial picture of the most dangerous animal a person could meet (2 Sam 17:8; Prov 17:12). The same root is used for a parent who has lost a child.

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