Hebrew word · H8300

שָׂרִיד

sarid

survivor

Survivor, fugitive, one who escapes alive from a massacre or military disaster. It comes from a root meaning 'to escape' (verb in Joshua 10:20). It usually appears in grim formulas such as 'until no survivor was left to him'.

Appears 28 times in 28 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) survivor, remnant, that which is left

1a) survivor

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 Isaiah 1:9

Range of meaning

Survivor, fugitive, one who escapes alive from a massacre or military disaster. It comes from a root meaning 'to escape' (verb in Joshua 10:20). It usually appears in grim formulas such as 'until no survivor was left to him'.

Against the English

BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB: 'a few/some survivors' (accurate). KJV and WEB: 'a very small remnant'. 'Remnant' is a fair translation in itself, but in church use it has become a technical word for a faithful, chosen minority, and that is not what śārîd stresses.

How it drifted

Isaiah does develop a hope about a 'remnant' elsewhere, mostly with a different word, šəʾār (as in his son's name Shear-jashub, 7:3; 10:20–22). Later readers merged these words into one doctrine of 'the faithful remnant', and the KJV's 'remnant' here invites that reading.

Used elsewhere in the period

Numbers 21:35; Deuteronomy 2:34; 3:3; Joshua 8:22; 10:28–40 (repeatedly 'he left no survivor'); Jeremiah 42:17; 44:14; Lamentations 2:22. Joel 2:32 (3:5 Hebrew) speaks hopefully of 'survivors whom YHWH calls'.

From the study of Job 20:21

Range of meaning

A survivor or remnant, someone who gets away alive from a slaughter, a defeat or a disaster. It is almost always about people who escape death, often in the phrase 'he left no survivor'.

Against the English

BSB ('nothing is left') and WEB ('nothing left') keep the idea of total loss but drop the battlefield picture. KJV ('none… be left') and YLT ('not a remnant') are closer in wording but still lose the sense of a 'survivor'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Common in conquest and war accounts: Joshua 10:20, 28–40 ('he left no survivor'); Numbers 21:35; Deuteronomy 2:34; 3:3. In Job 18:19 Bildad uses it of the wicked man's family line: no survivor in his dwellings. In Job 27:15 his survivors are buried by plague. (BDB, HALOT s.v.)

From the study of Jeremiah 31:2

Range of meaning

שָׂרִיד means someone who escapes alive from a defeat or massacre (Num 21:35; Josh 10:20; Jer 42:17; 47:4). It is a word for remnants: the few left over. With “sword” it means people who lived through military violence.

Against the English

BSB, ESV and WEB give “survived the sword.” KJV's “left of the sword” keeps the picture of what is left over. NLT turns it into “survive the coming destruction,” which settles the time question by paraphrase.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah often pairs sword, famine and plague as the instruments of judgment (e.g. 14:12; 21:7). In the Exodus story Moses names a son because God “delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh” (Exod 18:4), which supports reading the verse as about the Exodus.

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 21:35 שָׂרִ֑יד a survivor

    So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.

  2. Numbers 24:19 שָׂרִ֖יד [the] survivor[s]

    A ruler will come from Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 2:34 שָׂרִֽיד׃ a survivor

    At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.

  2. Deuteronomy 3:3 שָׂרִֽיד׃ a survivor

    So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

Joshua · 9

  1. Joshua 8:22 שָׂרִ֥יד a survivor

    Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

  2. Joshua 10:20 וְהַשְּׂרִידִים֙ and the survivors

    So Joshua and the Israelites continued to inflict a terrible slaughter until they had finished them off, and the remaining survivors retreated to the fortified cities.

    Here: "And the survivors". This is the technical word of war reports for those who escape a slaughter. It usually appears in the formula 'he left no survivor.' Here, unusually, there are survivors.

  3. Joshua 10:28 שָׂרִ֑יד a survivor

    On that day Joshua captured Makkedah and put it to the sword, along with its king. He devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. So he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

    Here: 'A survivor', someone who gets out alive after a disaster. 'He left no survivor' is a stock formula in Joshua 8, 10 and 11 and in Numbers 21:35 and Deuteronomy 2–3.

  4. Joshua 10:30 שָׂרִ֑יד a survivor

    And the LORD also delivered that city and its king into the hand of Israel, and Joshua put all the people to the sword, leaving no survivors. And he did to the king of Libnah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

  5. Joshua 10:33 שָׂרִֽיד׃ a survivor

    At that time Horam king of Gezer went to help Lachish, but Joshua struck him down along with his people, leaving no survivors.

    Here: One who escapes a disaster alive, such as a fugitive who runs home with the news. The army was wiped out in the field.

  6. Joshua 10:37 שָׂרִ֔יד a survivor

    They captured it and put to the sword its king, all its villages, and all the people. Joshua left no survivors, just as he had done at Eglon; he devoted to destruction Hebron and everyone in it.

    Here: 'A survivor': someone who escapes a disaster alive. 'Not one survivor' is a stock line in the conquest summaries (10:28, 30, 33, 39, 40).

  7. Joshua 10:39 שָׂרִ֑יד a survivor

    And they captured Debir, its king, and all its villages. They put them to the sword and devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. Joshua did to Debir and its king as he had done to Hebron and as he had done to Libnah and its king.

    Here: "A survivor": someone who gets away from a disaster. "He did not leave a survivor" is a stock phrase in these conquest reports (10:28, 30, 33, 37, 40).

  8. Joshua 10:40 שָׂרִ֑יד a survivor

    So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.

    Here: "A survivor," someone who gets away from a disaster alive. "He left no survivor" is a stock phrase in Hebrew battle reports for total defeat.

  9. Joshua 11:8 שָׂרִֽיד׃ a survivor

    and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

    Here: A survivor or escapee, someone who gets out of a disaster alive. In battle reports it means a fugitive who escapes the slaughter.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 5:13 שָׂרִ֔יד [the] survivor[s]

    Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 10:11 שָׂרִֽיד׃ a survivor

    So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his great men and close friends and priests, leaving him without a single survivor.

Job · 4

  1. Job 18:19 שָׂ֝רִ֗יד [is] a survivor

    He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.

  2. Job 20:21 שָׂרִ֥יד [is] a survivor

    Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure.

    Here: Usually a survivor who gets away from a slaughter or a disaster. Used here of what he eats, it pictures his appetite as an attack that leaves no one alive.

  3. Job 20:26 שָׂרִ֣יד a survivor

    Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

  4. Job 27:15 שְׂ֭רִידָיו survivors his

    His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 1:9 שָׂרִ֖יד survivor[s]

    Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.

    Here: A singular word used for a group: the handful who escape a slaughter. It comes from battle reports ('he left no survivor'). The picture is of people who barely got out alive, not of a righteous elite.

Jeremiah · 4

  1. Jeremiah 31:2 שְׂרִ֣ידֵי [the] survivors of

    This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.”

    Here: “Survivors of”: the few who got away alive from a slaughter. The people are described as what is left after violence, a remnant.

  2. Jeremiah 42:17 שָׂרִ֣יד a survivor

    So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’

  3. Jeremiah 44:14 וְשָׂרִיד֙ and a survivor

    so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone to reside in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, where they long to return and live; for none will return except a few fugitives.”

    Here: One who is left standing after a disaster. Paired with palit it makes a stock phrase meaning 'not a single person gets away or is left' (compare Jer 42:17; Josh 8:22).

  4. Jeremiah 47:4 שָׂרִ֣יד survivor

    For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

    Here: Someone who has escaped a disaster alive. It suggests that whatever allies are still standing after earlier blows will now go too.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:22 וְשָׂרִ֑יד and a survivor

    You summoned my terrors on every side, as for the day of an appointed feast. In the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived; my enemy has destroyed those I nurtured and reared.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 2:32 וּבַ֨שְּׂרִידִ֔ים and among the survivors

    And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.

    Here: 'And among the survivors.' Sarid is a stark word for the few left alive after a massacre or defeat. It describes people who barely made it, not an honoured elite.

Obadiah · 2

  1. Obadiah 1:14 שְׂרִידָ֖יו survivors his

    Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.

  2. Obadiah 1:18 שָׂרִיד֙ a survivor

    Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble—Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.

    Here: A war word for whoever is still alive after a slaughter. 'No sarid' is the set phrase for total defeat. Edom had handed Judah's sarid over to the enemy (v. 14), and now Edom will have none.

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