shavat · cease, rest

What it means

shavat (שָׁבַת) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “cease, rest”.

Cease, stop doing something; from there "rest". When God ceased from his work it was because he had finished it, not from weariness. The word "Sabbath" comes from this verb.

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. To leave off working, rest; God did so when done, not from tiredness.
2. To make something end, remove it.
3. To keep the Sabbath, the day of rest.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To cease, stop doing something, come to a halt; in the causative, to make cease, put an end to something. It is the verb from which שַׁבָּת comes (Sabbath, H7676).

• Elohim ceased from all his work Genesis 2:2Genesis 2:3
• Ceasing from work on the seventh day Exodus 23:12Exodus 34:21
• What will not cease while the earth remains Genesis 8:22
• The land that keeps its Sabbath Leviticus 25:2Leviticus 26:34
• YHWH puts an end to something: war, pride Psalms 46:9Isaiah 13:11

Historical and cultural background

The law also gave the land a year of Sabbath: in the seventh year the field was not sown (Leviticus 25:2-4). 2 Chronicles 36:21 says that the land kept its Sabbaths during the exile: “all the days of its desolation it ceased”.

How we translate it

“Cease” 16 times, “has ceased” 6, “will cease” 6, “ceased” 5; in the causative, “I will put an end” 8 and “I will make cease” 6. This edition's glossary sets שָׁבַת = “cease”, also without an object, and keeps the verb “rest” for נוּחַ (“you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest”, Exodus 23:12). So the seventh day is the day on which one ceases, and the link with the word Sabbath can also be seen.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• cease ×16
• I will put an end ×8
• I will make cease ×6
• has ceased ×6
• will cease ×6
• ceased ×5
• he ceased ×3
• stop ×3
• He put an end to ×2
• put an end to ×2
• others ×14

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Exodus×7
• Leviticus×7
• Deuteronomy×1
• Joshua×2
• Ruth×1
• 2 Kings×2
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×1
• Psalms×4
• Proverbs×2
• Isaiah×10
• Jeremiah×6
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×13
• Daniel×2
• Hosea×3
• Amos×1

• 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 8:22

  While all the days of the earth remain, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.”

• Exodus 5:5

  And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you make them cease from their burdens!”

• 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 16:30

  So the people ceased working on the seventh day.

• 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 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.

• Leviticus 2:13

  Every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; and you shall not leave out the salt of the covenant of your Elohim from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall present salt.

• Leviticus 23:32

  It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall cease in your Sabbath.”

• Leviticus 25:2

  “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I am giving you, the land shall cease, a Sabbath to YHWH.

• Leviticus 26:6

  And I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid; and I will remove harmful animals from the land, and the sword will not pass through your land.

• Leviticus 26:34

  Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will cease and enjoy its Sabbaths.

• Leviticus 26:35

  All the days it lies desolate it will cease, what it did not cease on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

• Deuteronomy 32:26

  I would have said, “I will scatter them; I will make cease from humankind their memory,”

• Joshua 5:12

  The manna ceased on the day after, when they ate of the produce of the land; and there was no longer manna for the sons of Israel, but they ate of the harvest of the land of Canaan that year.

• Joshua 22:25

  YHWH has made the Jordan a border between us and you, sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in YHWH.” And so your sons would stop our sons from fearing YHWH.’

• Ruth 4:14

  Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be YHWH, who has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer today; and may his name be proclaimed in Israel.

• 2 Kings 23:5

  He put an end to the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and to those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the constellations, and to all the army of the heavens.

• 2 Kings 23:11

  He put an end to the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of YHWH, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the Parvarim; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.

• 2 Chronicles 16:5

  And it happened when Baasha heard it that he stopped building Ramah and halted his work.

• 2 Chronicles 36:21

  to fulfill the word of YHWH by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths; all the days of its desolation it ceased, to fulfill seventy years.

• Nehemiah 4:11

  And our adversaries said, “They will not know nor see until we come into their midst and kill them and stop the work.”

• Nehemiah 6:3

  So I sent messengers to them, saying, “A great work I am doing, and I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”

• Job 32:1

  So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

• Psalms 8:2

  From the mouth of children and of nursing infants you have founded strength because of your adversaries, to put an end to the enemy and the one who takes vengeance.

• Psalms 46:9

  He brings an end to wars to the edge of the earth; the bow he breaks and cuts in two the spear; the wagons he burns in the fire.

• Psalms 89:44

  You have put an end to his brightness, and his throne to the ground you have hurled down.

• Psalms 119:119

  As dross you have put an end to all the wicked of the earth; therefore I love your testimonies.

• Proverbs 18:18

  The lot puts an end to strife, and between the mighty it decides.

• Proverbs 22:10

  Drive out the scoffer, and strife will go out; and dispute and disgrace will cease.

• Isaiah 13:11

  And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will put an end to the pride of the insolent, and the arrogance of tyrants I will bring low.

• Isaiah 14:4

  that you will take up this poem against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased, the fury has ceased!

• Isaiah 16:10

  And joy and gladness are gathered away from the orchard, and in the vineyards there is no singing, no shouting; the treader does not tread out wine in the presses; the shout I have made cease.

• Isaiah 17:3

  And the fortress will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the sons of Israel, declares YHWH Tsevaot.

• Isaiah 21:2

  A harsh vision has been told to me: the traitor betrays, and the devastator devastates. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! All its sighing I have brought to an end.

• Isaiah 24:8

  The rejoicing of the tambourines has ceased, the uproar of those who exult has ended, the rejoicing of the lyre has ceased.

• Isaiah 30:11

  turn aside from the way, turn away from the path, rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”

• Isaiah 33:8

  The highways are desolate; the traveler on the path has ceased. He has broken the covenant, he has despised cities, he has no regard for mortals.

And 31 more times.