Hebrew word · H7921

שָׁכֹל

shikelu

be bereaved

In the simple form: to lose one's children, to be childless (Gen 27:45, Rebekah: "why should I be bereaved of you both?"; Gen 43:14, Jacob: "if I am bereaved, I am bereaved"). The noun šakkûl means a bereaved mother or a female animal robbed of her cubs (Hos 13:8; 2 Sam 17:8).

Appears 23 times in 21 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be bereaved, make childless, miscarry

1a) (Qal) to be bereaved

1b) (Piel)

1b1) to make childless

1b2) to cause barrenness, show barrenness or abortion

1b3) to miscarry

1c) (Hiphil) miscarrying (participle)

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 9:12

Range of meaning

In the simple form: to lose one's children, to be childless (Gen 27:45, Rebekah: "why should I be bereaved of you both?"; Gen 43:14, Jacob: "if I am bereaved, I am bereaved"). In the intensive form used here: to make someone childless or kill their offspring (Lev 26:22; Deut 32:25; Ezek 5:17), and also to miscarry or cast young (Exod 23:26; Mal 3:11, of vines dropping fruit). The noun šakkûl means a bereaved mother or a female animal robbed of her cubs (Hos 13:8; 2 Sam 17:8).

Against the English

English "bereave" now means losing any loved one, especially a spouse. Hebrew šākōl is narrower and harsher. It means losing children, the end of one's line. KJV, WEB and BSB keep "bereave". YLT's "made them childless" is more exact.

How it drifted

In older English "bereave" meant to rob or strip someone of something. It later settled into the general sense of grieving a death. The specific link to losing children was lost in the process.

Used elsewhere in the period

Covenant-curse language: Lev 26:22 ("wild animals... shall bereave you of your children"), Deut 32:25 ("outside, the sword shall bereave"). Ezek 5:17 and 14:15 reuse it for judgment. Exod 23:26 promises the reverse as a covenant blessing: "none shall miscarry or be barren in your land." Hosea 13:8 uses the noun for a bear robbed of her cubs, a picture of God's anger.

From the study of Genesis 43:14

Range of meaning

To be bereaved of children, to be made childless. Also used of animals losing their young (Hosea 13:8, a bear robbed of her cubs) and, in a derived sense, of land that 'miscarries' or loses its crops. It is the specific word for a parent's loss of offspring, not a general word for mourning.

Against the English

English 'bereaved' covers losing any loved one, which is why KJV (in italics) and WEB add 'of my children'. Most versions keep the conditional 'if I am bereaved'. NLT turns it into idiom ('so be it' or similar).

How it drifted

The English word is broader than the Hebrew. Nothing has gone badly wrong, but the specifically parental sense has to be supplied.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 27:45 (Rebekah: 'Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?'); 42:36 (Jacob: 'You have bereaved me: Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and you would take Benjamin'). The sentence pattern matches Esther 4:16, ka'asher 'avadti 'avadti, 'if I perish, I perish'.

From the study of 1 Samuel 15:33

Range of meaning

In the simple form: to be bereaved, to lose one's children, usually through death (Genesis 27:45; 43:14, 'if I am bereaved, I am bereaved'). In the causing form: to make someone lose children, either by killing them (Deuteronomy 32:25, 'outside the sword will bereave') or by miscarriage and barrenness (Exodus 23:26; Malachi 3:11, a vine 'casting' its fruit). In a war setting it always means children killed.

Against the English

Most English versions say 'made women childless… your mother will be childless'. In current English, 'childless' usually means someone who never had children, often because of infertility. The Hebrew is about mothers whose living children were killed. 'Bereaved' (YLT) is closer.

How it drifted

English 'childless' once covered both 'never had children' and 'lost one's children'. Today it leans heavily toward the first. The KJV wording has stayed in the tradition while the English word has narrowed.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 42:36 (Jacob: 'you have bereaved me'); Deuteronomy 32:25 and Lamentations 1:20 ('the sword bereaves'), where the sword is the agent exactly as here. The Septuagint renders it with ateknoō, 'to make childless / bereave', which it uses for the same range.

Where it appears

Genesis · 5

  1. Genesis 27:45 אֶשְׁכַּ֛ל will I be bereaved

    until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

  2. Genesis 31:38 שִׁכֵּ֑לוּ they have miscarried

    I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.

  3. Genesis 42:36 שִׁכַּלְתֶּ֑ם you are making childless

    Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”

    Here: A strong form of the verb meaning 'to make someone lose their children.' The wording 'you have…' puts the blame on the sons. That is true about Joseph in a way Jacob does not know. The past-tense form can describe something already done or something treated as good as done.

  4. Genesis 43:14 שָׁכֹ֖לְתִּי שָׁכָֽלְתִּי׃ I have been bereaved

    May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

    Here: The verb means losing one's children specifically, not loss in general. The perfect tense treats the loss as if it has already happened.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 23:26 מְשַׁכֵּלָ֥ה miscarrying

    No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

    Here: A female who loses her offspring: a pregnancy that does not reach birth, or young lost soon after. The root is the ordinary Hebrew word for a parent bereaved of children, so it carries grief as well as a medical event. The same word is used of ewes and she-goats in Genesis 31:38.

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 26:22 וְשִׁכְּלָ֣ה and it will make childless

    I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

    Here: 'And it will make you childless.' The subject is the animal, and the verb is specifically about losing offspring. It is the first and worst of the losses listed.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 32:25 תְּשַׁכֶּל־ it will make childless

    Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 15:33 שִׁכְּלָ֤ה תִּשְׁכַּ֥ל it has made childless, she will become childless

    But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.

    Here: An active, causing form in the completed tense: your sword has made mothers lose their children. The meaning is losing children to death, not infertility.

2 Kings · 2

  1. 2 Kings 2:19 מְשַׁכָּֽלֶת׃ [is] causing abortions

    Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see. But the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”

    Here: A verb form from the root meaning 'to lose children.' The land is pictured as something that takes offspring away: it brings miscarriage, premature loss, or crops that drop before they ripen. This is stronger and more personal than 'unfruitful.'

  2. 2 Kings 2:21 וּמְשַׁכָּֽלֶת׃ and abortion

    and Elisha went out to the spring, cast the salt into it, and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will it cause death or unfruitfulness.’”

    Here: A form of the verb 'to be bereaved of children', here 'that which makes childless': miscarriage, lost newborns, and probably also young animals lost and fruit dropping before it ripens. It repeats v. 19, where 'the land' is the one doing it. It means losing offspring that were conceived, not failing to conceive.

Job · 1

  1. Job 21:10 תְשַׁכֵּֽל׃ it miscarries

    Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 15:7 שִׁכַּ֤לְתִּי I have made childless

    I will scatter them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I will bereave and destroy My people who have not turned from their ways.

    Here: 'I made [them] childless.' The verb specifically means losing your children, not loss or grief in general. It looks ahead to verse 8, where widows and 'the mother of a young man' appear, and it echoes the covenant curses.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 1:20 שִׁכְּלָה־ it has bereaved

    See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.

    Here: 'Has bereaved / made childless'. The word is specifically about losing children. Zion speaks as a mother whose sons and daughters, the city's people, are being cut down.

Ezekiel · 5

  1. Ezekiel 5:17 וְשִׁכְּלֻ֔ךְ and they will make childless you

    I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

    Here: 'And they will bereave you of children'. The 'you' is feminine singular: Jerusalem pictured as a mother whose children are taken. The same verb is used of wild beasts in the covenant curse of Leviticus 26:22.

  2. Ezekiel 14:15 וְשִׁכְּלָ֑תָּה and it will make childless it

    Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,

  3. Ezekiel 36:12 לְשַׁכְּלָֽם׃ ס to bereave them

    Yes, I will cause My people Israel to walk upon you; they will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of their children.

  4. Ezekiel 36:13 וּמְשַׁכֶּ֥לֶת and bereaving

    For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because people say to you, ‘You devour men and deprive your nation of its children,’

  5. Ezekiel 36:14 תְשַׁכְּלִי you will bereave

    therefore you will no longer devour men or deprive your nation of its children, declares the Lord GOD.

Hosea · 2

  1. Hosea 9:12 וְשִׁכַּלְתִּ֖ים and I will bereave them

    Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!

    Here: "And I will make them childless." God is the speaker and the one who acts. The word means losing offspring in particular, and it is the word of the covenant curses (Lev 26:22; Deut 32:25).

  2. Hosea 9:14 מַשְׁכִּ֔יל [which] miscarry

    Give them, O LORD—what will You give? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that dry up!

    Here: Literally 'a womb that bereaves': it causes its owner to lose her children. The root is the standard word for parents who lose children (Gen 43:14, 'if I am bereaved, I am bereaved'). With a womb as its subject it means losing the child before or at birth.

Malachi · 1

  1. Malachi 3:11 תְשַׁכֵּ֨ל it will prove barren

    I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts.

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