Hebrew word · H8035

שֵׁם

shem

Shem

Personal names of Noah's sons, which also work as heads of the three branches of the nations. Shem sounds like shem, 'name/renown'. Ham may relate to cham, 'hot', or to an Egyptian name for Egypt (kmt, 'the black land', after its dark soil).

Appears 17 times in 16 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.5.32;

son of: Noah (H5146);

brother of: Ham (H2526) and Japheth (H3315);

father of: Asshur (H0804H), Elam (H5867C), Arpachshad (H0775), Lud (H3865) and Aram (H0758)

Also named: Sēm (Σήμ "Shem" G4590)

§ Shem = "name"

the eldest son of Noah and progenitor of the Semitic tribes

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 10:1

Range of meaning

Personal names of Noah's sons, which also work as heads of the three branches of the nations. Shem sounds like shem, 'name/renown'. Ham may relate to cham, 'hot', or to an Egyptian name for Egypt (kmt, 'the black land', after its dark soil). Psalms 78:51 and 105:23, 27 use 'Ham' for Egypt, but the origin is uncertain. Japheth is linked by wordplay to yaft, 'may he enlarge' (9:27). Some scholars compare the Greek Titan Iapetos, ancestor of humans in Greek myth, but this is debated.

Against the English

English reads them simply as names, which they are. What English loses is the wordplay with 'name', 'enlarge' and 'Egypt' that a Hebrew hearer would catch.

How it drifted

From the 18th century, European scholars took these names as labels: 'Semitic' (coined for a language family in 1781) and 'Hamitic'. Popular writing then turned them into three 'races' sorted by skin colour. These categories are modern and do not come from the text.

Used elsewhere in the period

The table sorts the three lines 'by their clans, by their languages, in their lands, by their nations' (10:5, 20, 31). The grouping follows geography and politics, not language or physical type. Canaan (Ham's line) spoke a Semitic language, while Elam (Shem's line, 10:22) did not.

From the study of Genesis 10:22

Range of meaning

As a personal name, Noah's son. As a common noun (H8034), "name": a person's reputation, renown and identity.

Against the English

English readers see only a proper name and miss the pun on "name" that runs through Genesis 6–12.

How it drifted

Since 1781 (A. L. Schlözer), Western scholarship has used "Semitic" for a family of languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Akkadian, Arabic and others), and later popular use turned it into an ethnic or racial label. These categories come from this chapter but do not match the chapter's own logic.

Used elsewhere in the period

The wordplay is clear within Genesis: the "men of name" (6:4); the builders' "let us make a name for ourselves" (11:4); God's promise to Abram, "I will make your name great" (12:2). Shem's line in 11:10–26 links the Babel story to Abram.

Where it appears

Genesis · 14

  1. Genesis 5:32 שֵׁ֖ם Shem

    After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

  2. Genesis 6:10 שֵׁ֖ם Shem

    And Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

  3. Genesis 7:13 וְשֵׁם־ and Shem

    On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—

  4. Genesis 9:18 שֵׁ֖ם Shem

    The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.

  5. Genesis 9:23 שֵׁ֨ם Shem

    Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

  6. Genesis 9:26 שֵׁ֑ם Shem

    He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.

  7. Genesis 9:27 שֵׁ֑ם Shem

    May God expand the territory of Japheth; may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.”

  8. Genesis 10:1 שֵׁ֖ם Shem

    This is the account of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.

    Here: First named of the three. His name sounds identical to the Hebrew word for 'name', which Genesis plays on in 11:4 ('let us make a name for ourselves') and 12:2 (God will make Abram's name great). In the chapter his line is treated last because it leads to Abraham.

  9. Genesis 10:21 וּלְשֵׁ֥ם and to Shem

    And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.

  10. Genesis 10:22 שֵׁ֖ם Shem

    The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

    Here: Noah's son, whose line the story will follow down to Abram (11:10–26). As a common noun the word means "name", and Genesis plays on this: the tower builders want to "make a name" for themselves (11:4), but God gives Abram, a descendant of Shem, a great name (12:2).

  11. Genesis 10:31 שֵׁ֔ם Shem

    These are the sons of Shem, according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.

  12. Genesis 11:10 שֵׁ֔ם שֵׁ֚ם Shem

    This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.

  13. Genesis 11:11 שֵׁ֗ם Shem

    And after he had become the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

1 Chronicles · 3

  1. 1 Chronicles 1:4 שֵׁ֖ם Shem

    The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

  2. 1 Chronicles 1:17 שֵׁ֔ם Shem

    The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

  3. 1 Chronicles 1:24 שֵׁ֥ם׀ Shem

    So from Shem came Arphaxad, Shelah,

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