Hebrew word · H8180

שַׁ֫עַר

she'arim

hundredfold

In the Hebrew Bible this word appears only here. It is generally linked to a root meaning 'to estimate, reckon or measure'. In later Hebrew and Aramaic, sha'ar means 'estimate' or 'market rate'. 'A hundred she'arim' is therefore 'a hundred measures' or 'a hundredfold'.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) a unit of measure

1a) 100 measures = 100 for 1 = 100 fold

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 26:12

Range of meaning

In the Hebrew Bible this word appears only here. It is generally linked to a root meaning 'to estimate, reckon or measure'. In later Hebrew and Aramaic, sha'ar means 'estimate' or 'market rate'. 'A hundred she'arim' is therefore 'a hundred measures' or 'a hundredfold'.

Against the English

KJV, BSB and YLT say 'hundredfold' and keep the ratio. WEB says 'one hundred times what he planted', which fixes the base of the comparison as the seed sown. The Hebrew does not say what the hundred is measured against: the seed, a normal yield, or what was expected.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint (the Greek translation) reads 'barley yielding a hundredfold', taking the same consonants as se'orim, 'barley'. Targum Onqelos (an Aramaic translation) and Jewish tradition (e.g. Rashi) take it as 'a hundred times what had been estimated'. Ancient normal yields in the Near East were roughly 5- to 15-fold. Greek and Roman writers mention hundredfold yields only for exceptionally fertile places, for example Varro (On Agriculture 1.44.2) on land near Gadara in Syria.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 26:12 שְׁעָרִ֑ים measures

    Now Isaac sowed seed in the land, and that very year he reaped a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him,

    Here: In the Hebrew Bible this noun appears only here. It is related to a verb meaning 'to estimate or reckon', so 'a hundred measures' means a hundred times the expected amount: a hundredfold.

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