shen · tooth

What it means

shen (שֵׁן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “tooth”.

Also ivory, and a crag.

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 hard piece in the mouth used to bite and chew.
2. The hard white material of elephant tusks, very valuable.
3. A point of rock that juts out from the mountain.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Tooth. By likeness it also designates ivory (the elephant’s tusk) and the sharp point of a rock.

• “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth”: the law of equal harm Exodus 21:24Leviticus 24:20Deuteronomy 19:21
• The teeth of the wicked, broken or gnashing Psalms 3:7Psalms 37:12Psalms 112:10
• The proverb of the teeth set on edge Jeremiah 31:29Ezekiel 18:2
• Ivory: thrones and houses of ivory 1 Kings 10:18Amos 3:15
• “A tooth of rock”: a crag 1 Samuel 14:4

Historical and cultural background

The law that limits punishment to the harm done: “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot” (Exodus 21:24). Exodus 21:27 applies it to the slave: if his master knocks out his tooth, he goes free.

How we translate it

“Teeth” 30 times and “tooth” 14. When it is the material of a throne, a house or a bed it is rendered “ivory” (10 times), because the context asks for it (“a great throne of ivory”, 1 Kings 10:18). In 1 Samuel 14:4 the Hebrew image is kept, “a tooth of rock”.

How it is translated

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

• teeth ×30
• tooth ×14
• ivory ×10
• prongs ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×5
• Leviticus×2
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×3
• 1 Samuel×4
• 1 Kings×2
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Job×7
• Psalms×8
• Proverbs×3
• Song of Songs×4
• Jeremiah×2
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×3
• Joel×2
• Amos×3
• Micah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 49:12

  His eyes are dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

• Exodus 21:24

  eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

• Exodus 21:27

  And if he knocks out the tooth of his male slave or the tooth of his female slave, he shall let him go free on account of his tooth.

• Leviticus 24:20

  fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has inflicted a defect on a human being, so it shall be inflicted on him.

• Numbers 11:33

  The meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, when the anger of YHWH burned against the people, and YHWH struck the people with a very great blow.

• Deuteronomy 19:21

  And your eye shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

• Deuteronomy 32:24

  Wasted by hunger, and devoured by burning fever and bitter plague; and the teeth of beasts I will send against them, with the venom of crawling things of the dust.

• 1 Samuel 2:13

  And the custom of the priests with the people was this: whenever any man sacrificed a sacrifice, the priest’s young man would come while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three prongs in his hand,

• 1 Samuel 14:4

  Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the post of the Philistines, there was a tooth of rock on one side and a tooth of rock on the other side; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

• 1 Samuel 14:5

  The one tooth rose like a pillar on the north, in front of Michmash, and the other on the south, in front of Geba.

• 1 Kings 10:18

  And the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.

• 1 Kings 22:39

  The rest of the deeds of Ahab, and all that he did, and the house of ivory that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

• 2 Chronicles 9:17

  The king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

• Job 4:10

  The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.

• Job 13:14

  Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my palm?

• Job 16:9

  His anger tears and bears a grudge against me; he gnashes his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes at me.

• Job 19:20

  My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

• Job 29:17

  And I broke the fangs of the unjust, and from his teeth I threw down the prey.

• Job 39:28

  On the crag it dwells and spends the night, on the tooth of the crag and the stronghold.

• Job 41:14

  The doors of its face who has opened? Around its teeth is terror.

• Psalms 3:7

  Rise up, YHWH; save me, my Elohim; for you have struck all my enemies on the cheek; the teeth of the wicked you have broken.

• Psalms 35:16

  Like the godless who mock for a cake, they gnashed at me their teeth.

• Psalms 37:12

  The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him his teeth.

• Psalms 45:8

  Myrrh and aloes, cassia, are all your garments; from palaces of ivory strings make you glad.

• Psalms 57:4

  My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down among those who blaze, human beings whose teeth are a spear and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

• Psalms 58:6

  Elohim, tear down their teeth in their mouth; the molars of the young lions break, YHWH.

• Psalms 112:10

  The wicked will see it and be vexed; he will grind his teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked will perish.

• Psalms 124:6

  Blessed be YHWH, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

• Proverbs 10:26

  Like vinegar to the teeth, and like smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

• Proverbs 25:19

  A broken tooth and a slipping foot is confidence in a treacherous man in the day of distress.

• Proverbs 30:14

  A generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaw teeth are knives, to devour the afflicted from the earth, and the needy from among mankind.

• Song of Songs 4:2

  Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and none is barren among them.

• Song of Songs 5:14

  His hands are cylinders of gold set with chrysolite; his belly a plate of ivory covered with sapphires.

• Song of Songs 6:6

  Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and none is barren among them.

• Song of Songs 7:4

  Your neck is like a tower of ivory; your eyes are pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon that looks toward Damascus.

• Jeremiah 31:29

  In those days they will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’

• Jeremiah 31:30

  But each one for his own iniquity will die; every human being who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

• Lamentations 2:16

  They have opened their mouth against you, all your enemies; they hiss and grind their teeth; they say, “We have swallowed her up! Surely this is the day that we hoped for; we have found it, we have seen it.”

• Lamentations 3:16

  And he has broken with gravel my teeth; he has pressed me down in the ashes.

• Ezekiel 18:2

  “What do you mean, you who speak this proverb about the soil of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers eat unripe grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

And 15 more times.