Hebrew word · H8186

שַׁעֲרוּרָה

sha'arurah

horror

A rare word that appears only in Hosea and Jeremiah (Jer 5:30; 18:13; 23:14; compare Hos 6:10, sha'aruriyyah). It means something horrifying or appalling, a thing that makes you shudder. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) connect it with the root behind sho'arim, the 'rotten, revolting' figs of Jer 29:17.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

horrible thing

Also means: sha.a.ri.riy.yah (שַׁעֲרִירִיָּה "horror" H8186B)

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 Jeremiah 23:14

Range of meaning

A rare word that appears only in Hosea and Jeremiah (Jer 5:30; 18:13; 23:14; compare Hos 6:10, sha'aruriyyah). It means something horrifying or appalling, a thing that makes you shudder. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) connect it with the root behind sho'arim, the 'rotten, revolting' figs of Jer 29:17. The image is physical revulsion: bristling, shuddering.

Against the English

'Horrible thing' (KJV, BSB, WEB, ESV) is accurate. The trouble is that modern English uses 'horrible' for bad weather or a bad meal. The Hebrew is the shudder you feel at an abomination.

How it drifted

Everyday English has worn 'horrible' down to mean little more than 'very unpleasant'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 5:30-31 uses the same word in a parallel indictment: 'An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely (bashsheqer), the priests rule at their direction, and my people love it so.' Jer 18:13 uses it for Israel's unheard-of unfaithfulness. In Hos 6:10 God says of Israel, 'I have seen a horrible thing.' In this verse the Greek translation (LXX) has phrikta, 'things that make one shudder'.

From the study of Jeremiah 5:30

Range of meaning

A horrible, revolting, shudder-inducing thing, used mainly of moral or religious outrage. Related forms: שַׁעֲרוּרִית (shaʿarurit) in Jer 18:13 ('virgin Israel has done a most horrible thing') and Jer 23:14 ('in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies'); and the closely related form in Hos 6:10 ('in the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing'). The root is uncertain. Some connect it with שֹׁעָרִים (shoʿarim), the 'rotten, inedible' figs of Jer 29:17. Others connect it with the similar-sounding שׂער (saʿar), 'to bristle, shudder', which is used in Jer 2:12 ('be horribly appalled').

Against the English

English translations agree on 'horrible'. That is accurate, but in everyday modern English 'horrible' can be weak ('horrible weather'). The Hebrew is stronger and moral: something rotten and repellent that makes the hearer recoil.

Used elsewhere in the period

Every biblical use is in Jeremiah and Hosea, and every one describes the covenant people's unfaithfulness. Twice (Jer 23:14; Hos 6:10) it points directly at religious leaders. The Septuagint renders it φρικτά, 'things that make one shudder'.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 5:30 וְשַׁ֣עֲרוּרָ֔ה and a horrible [thing]

    A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.

    Here: A rare word for something morally revolting, the kind of thing that makes you recoil. Jeremiah uses it for corruption among Israel's own religious leaders (compare 23:14). Joined to 'appallment' by 'and', the two words describe one thing: a stunning outrage.

  2. Jeremiah 18:13 שַֽׁעֲרֻרִת֙ a horrible [thing]

    Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.

  3. Jeremiah 23:14 שַׁעֲרוּרָ֗ה a horrible [thing]

    And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

    Here: A rare word for something so revolting it makes you shudder or your hair stand on end. It goes well beyond the 'unseemly, distasteful thing' (tiflah) God saw in Samaria in verse 13.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 6:10 שַׁעֲרֽוּרִיָּ֑ה a horrible [thing]

    In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim practices prostitution there, and Israel is defiled.

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