shevii · seventh

What it means

shevii (שְׁבִיעִי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “seventh”.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The seventh: the seventh day, year or month.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Seventh: the ordinal of שֶׁבַע, “seven” (H7651). It is the number of the day, the year and the month that the law sets apart.

• The seventh day of creation Genesis 2:2Genesis 2:3
• The seventh day, a Sabbath to YHWH Exodus 20:10
• The seventh year: freedom for the slave and rest for the land Exodus 21:2Leviticus 25:4
• The seventh month of the feasts Leviticus 23:24
• The seventh day in a rite or a narrative Leviticus 13:5Joshua 6:15

Historical and cultural background

The law orders time in sevens: “the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH” (Exodus 20:10), the Hebrew slave goes out free in the seventh year (Exodus 21:2), in the seventh year the land rests (Leviticus 25:4), and the seventh month gathers several feasts (Leviticus 23:24).

How we translate it

“Seventh” 98 times, always the ordinal.

Where it appears

• Genesis×4
• Exodus×17
• Leviticus×20
• Numbers×13
• Deuteronomy×3
• Joshua×4
• Judges×3
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×3
• 2 Kings×3
• 1 Chronicles×8
• 2 Chronicles×4
• Ezra×3
• Nehemiah×4
• Esther×1
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×2
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 2:2

  And on the seventh day Elohim finished his work that he had done, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work that he had done.

• Genesis 2:3

  And Elohim blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he ceased from all his work that Elohim had created to make.

• Genesis 8:4

  And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

• Exodus 12:15

  Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Indeed, on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day.

• Exodus 12:16

  On the first day a holy convocation, and on the seventh day a holy convocation you shall have. No work shall be done on them; only what is eaten by every person, that alone may be done by you.

• Exodus 13:6

  Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to YHWH.

• Exodus 16:26

  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none on it.”

• Exodus 16:27

  On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found nothing.

• Exodus 16:29

  See that YHWH has given you the Sabbath; that is why he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Stay, each one, where he is; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

• Exodus 16:30

  So the people ceased working on the seventh day.

• Exodus 20:10

  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or your resident alien who is within your gates.

• Exodus 20:11

  For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; that is why YHWH blessed the day of the Sabbath and made it holy.

• Exodus 21:2

  When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free, without payment.

• Exodus 23:11

  but the seventh year you shall let it rest and leave it alone, so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the animals of the field may eat. So you shall do with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

• Exodus 23:12

  Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.

• Exodus 24:16

  The glory of YHWH dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

• Exodus 31:15

  For six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to YHWH. Whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 31:17

  Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign forever; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he ceased and caught his breath.’”

• Exodus 34:21

  Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall cease; in plowing time and in harvest you shall cease.

• Exodus 35:2

  Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there shall be for you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to YHWH; whoever does work on it shall be put to death.

• Leviticus 13:5

  The priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if the sore has stayed as it was in his eyes and the sore has not spread in the skin, the priest shall isolate him seven days a second time.

• Leviticus 13:6

  The priest shall examine him on the seventh day a second time, and if the sore has faded and the sore has not spread in the skin, the priest shall declare him clean; it is an eruption; he shall wash his garments and be clean.

• Leviticus 13:27

  The priest shall examine him on the seventh day; if it has spread widely in the skin, the priest shall declare him unclean; it is a leprous sore.

• Leviticus 13:32

  The priest shall examine the sore on the seventh day, and if the ringworm has not spread and there has not been yellowish hair in it, and the appearance of the ringworm is not deeper than the skin,

• Leviticus 13:34

  The priest shall examine the ringworm on the seventh day, and if the ringworm has not spread in the skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, the priest shall declare him clean; he shall wash his garments and be clean.

• Leviticus 13:51

  He shall examine the mark on the seventh day; if the mark has spread in the garment or in the woven material or in the knitted material or in the skin, for whatever the skin is made for use, the mark is a malignant leprosy; it is unclean.

• Leviticus 14:9

  On the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair: his head, his beard, and the brows of his eyes; all his hair he shall shave off; he shall wash his garments and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean.

• Leviticus 14:39

  The priest shall return on the seventh day and examine it, and if the mark has spread in the walls of the house,

• Leviticus 16:29

  And this shall be for you a statute forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work the native or the resident alien who resides among you.

• Leviticus 23:3

  Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work at all; it is a Sabbath to YHWH in all your dwellings.

• Leviticus 23:8

  And you shall present a fire offering to YHWH seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work at all.”

• Leviticus 23:16

  Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days, and you shall present a new grain offering to YHWH.

• Leviticus 23:24

  “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a solemn rest, a memorial with a blast of acclamation, a holy convocation.

• Leviticus 23:27

  “But on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Expiation; you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall afflict your souls and present a fire offering to YHWH.

• Leviticus 23:34

  “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths, seven days to YHWH.

• Leviticus 23:39

  But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of YHWH seven days; on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.

• Leviticus 23:41

  And you shall celebrate it as a feast to YHWH seven days in the year; it is a statute forever throughout your generations; in the seventh month you shall celebrate it.

• Leviticus 25:4

  but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to YHWH; your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune.

• Leviticus 25:9

  Then you shall sound the horn of acclamation in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; on the Day of Expiation you shall sound the horn throughout all your land.

• Leviticus 25:20

  And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our produce?’

And 58 more times.