shesh · six

What it means

shesh (שֵׁשׁ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “six”.

Also "sixth".

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 number six, used to count sons, wings, days or blows.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Six. Its plural, שִׁשִּׁים, is sixty (H8346).

• “Six days you shall labor” Exodus 20:9
• Six years of service Exodus 21:2
• Measures and ages 1 Samuel 17:4Genesis 7:6Exodus 25:32

Historical and cultural background

The law of Exodus 21:2 commands that a Hebrew slave serve six years and go out free in the seventh, as the work of six days ends in the Sabbath (Exodus 20:9-10).

How we translate it

“Six” 190 times, “sixteen” 21, “sixteenth” 3. The English form depends on the number it goes with; in larger figures (“six hundred”) it is part of the number.

How it is translated

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

• six ×190
• sixteen ×21
• sixteenth ×3
• sixty-one thousand ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×8
• Exodus×28
• Leviticus×5
• Numbers×28
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×7
• Judges×7
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×8
• 2 Samuel×6
• 1 Kings×10
• 2 Kings×10
• 1 Chronicles×24
• 2 Chronicles×22
• Ezra×15
• Nehemiah×9
• Esther×2
• Job×2
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×3
• Ezekiel×12

• Genesis 7:6

  And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came, waters on the earth.

• Genesis 7:11

  In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the springs of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

• Genesis 8:13

  And it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the waters dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and look, the face of the ground had dried.

• Genesis 16:16

  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

• Genesis 30:20

  Leah said, “Elohim has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.

• Genesis 31:41

  These twenty years I have had in your house: I served you fourteen years for the two of your daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.

• Genesis 46:18

  These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob, sixteen persons.

• Genesis 46:26

  All the persons who came with Jacob to Egypt, who came out of his thigh, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons, all the persons were sixty-six.

• Exodus 12:37

  The sons of Israel set out from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones.

• Exodus 14:7

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

• Exodus 16:26

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

• Exodus 20:9

  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

• 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 23:10

  Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,

• 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 25:32

  Six branches shall go out from its sides, three branches of the lampstand from the one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it;

• Exodus 25:33

  three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the one branch, with knob and flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the other branch, with knob and flower; so for the six branches that go out from the lampstand.

• Exodus 25:35

  and a knob under two of the branches of one piece with it, and a knob under two of the branches of one piece with it, and a knob under two of the branches of one piece with it, for the six branches that go out from the lampstand.

• Exodus 26:9

  You shall join five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent.

• Exodus 26:22

  For the rear of the dwelling, westward, you shall make six boards.

• Exodus 26:25

  So there shall be eight boards, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases under one board and two bases under another board.

• Exodus 28:10

  six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the second stone, in the order of their birth.

• 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.

• Exodus 36:16

  And he joined five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.

• Exodus 36:27

  And for the rear of the dwelling westward he made six boards.

• Exodus 36:30

  And there were eight boards and their bases of silver, sixteen bases, two bases, two bases under each board.

• Exodus 37:18

  And six branches went out from its sides, three branches of the lampstand from its one side, and three branches of the lampstand from its second side.

• Exodus 37:19

  Three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the one branch, a knob and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms on another branch, a knob and a flower; so for the six branches that went out from the lampstand.

• Exodus 37:21

  And a knob was under two branches from it, and a knob under two branches from it, and a knob under two branches from it, for the six branches that went out from it.

• Exodus 38:26

  a beka per head, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

• Leviticus 12:5

  But if she gives birth to a female, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain sixty days and six days in the blood of purification.

• 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 24:6

  And you shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure table before YHWH.

• Leviticus 25:3

  Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its produce;

• Numbers 1:21

  those of them counted from the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.

And 175 more times.