Hebrew word · H8082

שָׁמֵן

shamen

rich

Fat, rich, robust, fertile. It is used of land (Numbers 13:20), food (Genesis 49:20) and well-fed animals or people. It can be neutral or positive, but in prophetic texts it often means prosperity that has become complacent or oppressive.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) fat, rich, robust

1a) fat, rich (of food)

1b) stout, robust (of men)

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 Ezekiel 34:16

Range of meaning

Fat, rich, robust, fertile. It is used of land (Numbers 13:20), food (Genesis 49:20) and well-fed animals or people. It can be neutral or positive, but in prophetic texts it often means prosperity that has become complacent or oppressive.

Against the English

KJV/ESV 'fat' is literal. BSB/NIV 'sleek' sounds less crude but still points to well-fed animals. Neither shows by itself that the fat sheep got fat by harming others; the next verses supply that.

How it drifted

Modern readers may hear 'fat' as a comment on body size, or as neutral 'healthy'. Here it describes the comfortable members of the flock, as verses 18–21 explain.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 32:15, 'Jeshurun grew fat (šāman) and kicked'; Jeremiah 5:28, the wicked 'have grown fat and sleek' while they deny justice to the orphan and the needy; Amos 4:1, the 'cows of Bashan' who oppress the poor. Ezekiel 34:20 uses a related word: 'I will judge between the fat sheep (bəriyyāh) and the lean sheep.'

From the study of Ezekiel 34:14

Range of meaning

Fat, rich, lush, fertile. Used of land, food, pasture and well-fed people or animals. Related to shemen, 'oil'.

Against the English

KJV says 'fat pasture'. Modern versions say 'rich' (BSB, ESV, NIV) or 'lush' (NLT). Today 'fat' is mostly negative. In the ancient world it meant plenty, health and blessing.

How it drifted

Modern health and diet ideas have made 'fat' a negative word. In an agrarian world where food could run short, fatness meant prosperity.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 13:20 asks whether the land is 'rich [shamen] or lean'. Neh 9:25 and 9:35 speak of 'a rich land'. Isa 30:23 promises 'bread… rich and plentiful' and cattle grazing in wide pastures. The same root appears in Ezek 34:16 ('the fat [hashshemenah] and the strong I will destroy') and 34:20 ('between the fat sheep and the lean').

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:20 שְׁמֵנָ֣ה [will be] rich

    Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 13:20 הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה ¿ fat

    Is the soil fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 3:29 שָׁמֵ֖ן stout [person]

    At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men. Not one of them escaped.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 4:40 שָׁמֵ֣ן fertile

    There they found rich, good pasture, and the land was spacious, peaceful, and quiet; for some Hamites had lived there formerly.

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 9:25 שְׁמֵנָה֒ fertile

    They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

    Here: "Fat", i.e. fertile. It answers the spies' question in Num 13:20, 'is the land fat or lean?', and sets up the verb 'they grew fat' later in the verse.

  2. Nehemiah 9:35 וְהַשְּׁמֵנָ֛ה and <the> fertile

    For even while they were in their kingdom, with the abundant goodness that You had given them, and in the spacious and fertile land that You had set before them, they would not serve You or turn from their wicked ways.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 30:23 וְשָׁמֵ֑ן and fat

    Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

    Here: Related to shemen, "olive oil". Paired with dashen it makes a rhyming pair (dashen ve-shamen) meaning "rich and abundant", the opposite of scarcity.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 34:14 שָׁמֵ֛ן rich

    I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

    Here: Rich, lush, fattening, literally 'fat' or 'oily'. To ancient ears this means plenty, not unhealthiness.

  2. Ezekiel 34:16 הַשְּׁמֵנָ֧ה the fat [one]

    I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’

    Here: 'The fat one', meaning the well-fed, prosperous animal. Verses 18–21 explain why it is fat: it ate the best grass, trampled the rest, fouled the water and shoved the weak sheep away.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 1:16 שָׁמֵ֣ן [is] fat

    Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich.

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