shalish · officer; three-part instrument

What it means

shalish (שָׁלִישׁ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “officer; three-part instrument”.

A word from "three" with several uses: (1) captain, a high-ranking officer who rode in a war chariot (Exodus 14:7); (2) a musical instrument not known for sure, perhaps with three strings or three sides (1 Samuel 18:6); (3) a large measure.

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. A high army commander.
2. A musical instrument, perhaps with three strings.
3. A measure for holding large quantities, of great capacity.
4. A set of choice counsels, of great value.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• captains ×8
• captain ×5
• measure ×2
• officers ×2
• thirty sayings ×1
• three-stringed instruments ×1

Where it appears

• Exodus×2
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×7
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Psalms×1
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×1
• Ezekiel×2

• Exodus 14:7

  He took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, with captains over all of them.

• Exodus 15:4

  Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has cast into the sea; and his choicest captains were sunk in the Sea of Reeds.

• 1 Samuel 18:6

  And it came about, as they came, when David returned from striking the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel to sing, with dances, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments.

• 2 Samuel 23:8

  These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth, a Tahchemonite, head of the captains; he was Adino the Eznite; he was against eight hundred slain at one time.

• 1 Kings 9:22

  But of the sons of Israel Solomon did not make a slave, for they were the men of war, and his servants, and his officials, and his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and of his horsemen.

• 2 Kings 7:2

  The captain on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of Elohim and said, “Look, even if YHWH were making floodgates in the heavens, could this thing happen?” He said, “Look, you will see it with your own eyes, but from there you will not eat.”

• 2 Kings 7:17

  The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to be over the gate; and the people trampled him in the gate, and he died, as the man of Elohim had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

• 2 Kings 7:19

  The captain had answered the man of Elohim and said, “Look, even if YHWH were making floodgates in the heavens, could there be anything like this?” And he said, “Look, you will see it with your own eyes, but from there you will not eat.”

• 2 Kings 9:25

  He said to Bidkar his captain, “Pick him up, throw him into the plot of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember how I and you were riding side by side behind Ahab his father, when YHWH lifted up against him this oracle:

• 2 Kings 10:25

  And it happened, when he had finished offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the runners and to the captains, “Go in, strike them; let no one get out.” And they struck them with the edge of the sword, and the runners and the captains threw them out and went to the city of the house of Baal.

• 2 Kings 15:25

  Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the citadel of the house of the king, with Argob and with Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the sons of the Gileadites; and he put him to death and reigned in his place.

• 1 Chronicles 11:11

  And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni, head of the captains; he brandished his spear against three hundred slain at one time.

• 2 Chronicles 8:9

  But of the sons of Israel Solomon did not make slaves for his work, for they were men of war, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and of his horsemen.

• Psalms 80:5

  You have fed them the bread of tears, and given them to drink tears in great measure.

• Proverbs 22:20

  Have I not written to you thirty sayings of counsels and knowledge,

• Isaiah 40:12

  Who has measured in the hollow of his hand the waters, and the heavens with the span gauged, and held in a measure the dust of the earth, and weighed with the scale the mountains and the hills with a balance?

• Ezekiel 23:15

  girded with belts on their loins, with dangling turbans on their heads, with the appearance of officers, all of them, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, of Chaldea, the land of their birth.

• Ezekiel 23:23

  the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them, desirable young men, governors and prefects all of them, officers and renowned men, riding horses, all of them.

And 1 more times.