shacham · rise early

What it means

shacham (שָׁכַם) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “rise early”.

Get up early in the morning.

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 get up early to do something.
2. To do something again and again, earnestly.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To rise early, get up at dawn. With another verb it shows that something is done with persistence, again and again.

• Rising at dawn to undertake something Genesis 22:3Genesis 19:27Exodus 34:4
• Before a battle or a decisive act Joshua 6:151 Samuel 15:12Judges 7:1
• “Rising early and sending”: YHWH who insists Jeremiah 7:13Jeremiah 25:3Jeremiah 29:19
• “In vain for you to rise early” Psalms 127:2
• What goes away early: the dew Hosea 6:4

How we translate it

“Rose early” 37 times in the narratives (“Abraham rose early in the morning”, Genesis 22:3); “rising early” 12 in Jeremiah, in the formula of YHWH who sends his prophets without ceasing (“rising early and speaking”, Jeremiah 7:13). In 2 Chronicles 36:15 the phrase הַשְׁכֵּם וְשָׁלוֹחַ is “sending {them} again and again”: there the verb marks persistence.

How it is translated

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

• rose early ×37
• rise early ×12
• rising early ×12
• early ×2
• morning ×1
• sending them again and again ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×8
• Exodus×5
• Numbers×1
• Joshua×6
• Judges×8
• 1 Samuel×10
• 2 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×3
• 2 Chronicles×3
• Job×1
• Psalms×1
• Proverbs×1
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×11
• Hosea×2
• Zephaniah×1

• Genesis 19:2

  He said, “Look now, my lords, please turn aside to the house of your servant, spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.”

• Genesis 19:27

  Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before YHWH.

• Genesis 20:8

  So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their ears; and the men were very afraid.

• Genesis 21:14

  Abraham rose early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and also the child, and sent her away. She went and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

• Genesis 22:3

  Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he rose and went to the place that Elohim had told him.

• Genesis 26:31

  They rose early in the morning and swore one to another; and Isaac sent them away, and they went from him in peace.

• Genesis 28:18

  Jacob rose early in the morning, took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a standing stone, and poured oil on its top.

• Genesis 31:55

  Laban rose early in the morning, kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban went and returned to his place.

• Exodus 8:20

  YHWH said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and station yourself before Pharaoh; look, he is going out to the water. And say to him, ‘Thus says YHWH: “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

• Exodus 9:13

  YHWH said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and station yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of the Hebrews: “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

• Exodus 24:4

  Moses wrote all the words of YHWH. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve standing stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

• Exodus 32:6

  And they rose early on the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

• Exodus 34:4

  So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones; and Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as YHWH had commanded him, and he took in his hand two tablets of stone.

• Numbers 14:40

  And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Here we are; we will go up to the place that YHWH said, for we have sinned.”

• Joshua 3:1

  Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they spent the night there before they crossed.

• Joshua 6:12

  Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of YHWH.

• Joshua 6:15

  And it came about on the seventh day that they rose early at the rising of the dawn and went around the city in this same manner seven times; only on that day they went around the city seven times.

• Joshua 7:16

  Joshua rose early in the morning and had Israel come near by its tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.

• Joshua 8:10

  Joshua rose early in the morning and counted the people, and he and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai.

• Joshua 8:14

  And it came about, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people, at the appointed time before the Arabah; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

• Judges 6:28

  The men of the city rose early in the morning, and look, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.

• Judges 6:38

  And it was so. He rose early the next day and squeezed the fleece, and he wrung out dew from the fleece, a full bowl of water.

• Judges 7:1

  Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, rose early, with all the people who were with him, and they camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of him, from the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

• Judges 9:33

  And in the morning, as the sun rises, you shall rise early and rush upon the city; and when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you shall do to him as your hand finds.

• Judges 19:5

  And it happened on the fourth day that they rose early in the morning, and he arose to go; but the father of the young woman said to his son-in-law, “Sustain your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you may go.”

• Judges 19:8

  On the fifth day he rose early in the morning to go, and the father of the young woman said, “Sustain, please, your heart, and linger until the day declines.” So the two of them ate.

• Judges 19:9

  And the man arose to go, he and his concubine and his young man; but his father-in-law, the father of the young woman, said to him, “Look, please, the day has waned toward evening; spend the night, please. Look, the day is ending; spend the night here, and let your heart be merry; and tomorrow you can rise early for your journey and go to your tent.”

• Judges 21:4

  And it happened the next day that the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

• 1 Samuel 1:19

  They rose early in the morning and bowed down before YHWH; then they returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and YHWH remembered her.

• 1 Samuel 5:3

  And the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, and there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.

• 1 Samuel 5:4

  And they rose early in the morning the next day, and there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH, and the head of Dagon and both palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; only Dagon was left to him.

• 1 Samuel 9:26

  And they rose early; and it happened, as the dawn came up, that Samuel called to Saul on the roof, saying, “Get up, and I will send you off.” So Saul got up, and the two of them, he and Samuel, went out outside.

• 1 Samuel 15:12

  Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told to Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and look, he is setting up for himself a monument; and he turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”

• 1 Samuel 17:16

  The Philistine came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

• 1 Samuel 17:20

  David rose early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up and went, as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army that was going out to the battle line was shouting for war.

• 1 Samuel 29:10

  Now rise early in the morning, with the servants of your lord who came with you; rise early in the morning, and when you have light, go.”

• 1 Samuel 29:11

  David rose early, he and his men, to go in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines; and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

• 2 Samuel 15:2

  Absalom would rise early and stand beside the road of the gate; and whenever any man who had a dispute to come to the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And he would say, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”

• 2 Kings 3:22

  They rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the water, and Moab saw the water across from them red as blood.

• 2 Kings 6:15

  The attendant of the man of Elohim rose early to get up and went out, and there was a force surrounding the city, with horses and chariots. His young man said to him, “Alas, my lord! What shall we do?”

And 25 more times.