Hebrew word · H8175

שָׂעַר

yis'arenu

to storm

From the root s-'-r (also spelled s-'-r with a different first letter, as in sa'ar and se'arah), 'to storm, rage, toss as a gale'. The nouns sa'ar and se'arah mean 'storm' or 'whirlwind'. Here the form is passive and impersonal: 'it is stormed', 'it storms'.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to storm away, sweep away, whirl away

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to sweep away

1a2) to storm away (of God's action against the wicked) (fig)

1b) (Niphal) to be stormy, be tempestuous (exceedingly)

1c) (Piel) to whirl away, be stormed away

1d) (Hithpael) to storm against, come as a storm

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 Psalm 50:3

Range of meaning

From the root s-'-r (also spelled s-'-r with a different first letter, as in sa'ar and se'arah), 'to storm, rage, toss as a gale'. The nouns sa'ar and se'arah mean 'storm' or 'whirlwind'. Here the form is passive and impersonal: 'it is stormed', 'it storms'.

Against the English

KJV's 'it shall be very tempestuous round about him' keeps the impersonal shape but sounds old-fashioned. BSB's 'a tempest rages' and WEB's 'very stormy' are clearer. The KJV's future 'shall be' hides that the Hebrew verb describes the storm as already there.

Used elsewhere in the period

The storm noun appears with theophanies in 2 Kgs 2:11 (Elijah taken up in a se'arah), Job 38:1; 40:6 (God answers Job 'out of the whirlwind'), Nah 1:3 ('his way is in whirlwind and storm'), Zech 9:14. Across the ancient Near East, gods, especially storm gods such as Baal in the Ugaritic texts, are described arriving in thunder and storm. Israel's poets used this shared language for their own God (compare Ps 29).

From the study of Daniel 11:40

Range of meaning

A root tied to storm and tempest (noun śaʿar / śəʿārâ, Job 9:17; Nah 1:3). The verb means 'to sweep away as a storm' (Ps 58:9). The hithpael 'to storm against' appears only here.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'come against him like a whirlwind' adds 'like', but the picture is really in the verb. BSB/NIV 'storm out against him' keeps the storm in the verb. Either way the response is a weather-force, not an ordinary counterattack.

Used elsewhere in the period

Storm imagery for invading armies is common in prophecy (Isa 21:1; Jer 4:13; Ezek 38:9). The Latin Vulgate renders the clause 'like a tempest (quasi tempestas) the king of the north will come against him'.

From the study of Ezekiel 27:35

Range of meaning

The verb śāʿar in this sense means to shudder or bristle with horror. The noun śaʿar means 'horror, shuddering'. A homonymous root gives words for a violent storm (śaʿar, śeʿārâ), and many lexicons connect the 'horror' sense with śēʿār, 'hair', picturing hair standing on end.

Against the English

KJV 'sore afraid', WEB 'horribly afraid', BSB 'shudder with fear', ESV 'bristle with horror'. All convey intensity; 'bristle' keeps the possible bodily picture of hair rising.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same expression is used of foreign kings in Ezek 32:10 (over Egypt's fall), and the verb appears in Jer 2:12 with shamem. In the Vulgate Jerome appears to have connected the word with the storm sense: kings 'struck by the tempest'.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 32:17 שְׂעָר֖וּם they had known about them

    They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

    Here: A rare verb. One view links it to an Arabic word meaning 'to know, perceive', giving 'your fathers had not known them'. That is how the Greek translation read it, and it matches the supplied gloss. The other view links it to śēʿār, 'hair', meaning 'to bristle, to shudder in awe', giving 'your fathers never trembled before them'. The sound may also echo the śəʿîrîm, the 'hairy ones' or goat-demons of Leviticus 17:7.

Job · 1

  1. Job 27:21 וִֽ֝ישָׂעֲרֵ֗הוּ and it will whirl away him

    The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 50:3 נִשְׂעֲרָ֥ה it is tempestuous

    Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.

    Here: A passive verb with no named subject: 'it is stormed', 'a storm rages'. The tense is complete action, so the storm is already in place around him. The root is the same family as se'arah, the 'whirlwind' God speaks out of in Job 38:1 and Nahum 1:3.

  2. Psalm 58:9 יִשְׂעָרֶֽנּוּ׃ he will blow away it

    Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.

    Here: "He will storm it away," or, as a wish, "may he sweep it away in a gale." The verb comes from the noun for a tempest. The unnamed "he" is God, the judge the psalm appeals to, and "it" is the whole fire with everything on it.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 2:12 וְשַׂעֲר֛וּ and shudder

    Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.

    Here: 'And bristle!' The root is linked with the word for hair (śēʿār), so the picture is hair standing on end. It is a bodily shudder of revulsion, not a calm feeling of surprise.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 27:35 שָׂ֣עֲרוּ they have shuddered

    All the people of the coastlands are appalled over you. Their kings shudder with fear; their faces are contorted.

    Here: A physical shudder of terror. Lexicons often connect the root with the noun for 'hair', suggesting hair standing on end, though that link is not certain.

  2. Ezekiel 32:10 יִשְׂעֲר֤וּ they will shudder

    I will cause many peoples to be appalled over you, and their kings will shudder in horror because of you when I brandish My sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life.’

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 11:40 וְיִשְׂתָּעֵ֨ר so he may storm

    At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading many countries and sweeping through them like a flood.

    Here: From the root for a storm or tempest. This form appears only here in the Bible: 'to rage like a storm against'. The northern king's response is far bigger than the southern king's butting.

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