shachat · slaughter

What it means

shachat (שָׁחַט) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “slaughter”.

Kill an animal, usually for a sacrifice or for food; also of killing people.

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 kill an animal by cutting its throat, to sacrifice it or to eat.
2. To kill people with violence, at times as a sacrifice or punishment.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To slaughter: to kill an animal by cutting its throat, to eat it or to sacrifice it; also to kill people. BDB: to slaughter, kill, chiefly in sacrifice.

• Slaughtering the animal for sacrifice Leviticus 1:5Exodus 12:6
• Abraham takes the knife “to slaughter his son” Genesis 22:10
• Slaughtering an animal for food 1 Samuel 14:34Genesis 37:31
• Slaughtering people 1 Kings 18:402 Kings 10:7
• Sacrifice without the heart Isaiah 66:3

Historical and cultural background

In Leviticus the one who offers slaughters the animal “before YHWH”, and the priests present the blood and splash it against the altar (Leviticus 1:5). In 1 Samuel 14:34 Saul orders the animals slaughtered there, so as not to sin “by eating with the blood”.

How we translate it

“Slaughter” 37 times, “slaughtered” 25, “they slaughtered” 11. This edition's glossary sets שׁחט = “slaughter”, distinct from זָבַח = “sacrifice”, so that the reader sees which step of the rite the text describes (Leviticus 1:5; “One who slaughters the ox… one who sacrifices the lamb”, Isaiah 66:3).

How it is translated

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

• slaughter ×37
• slaughtered ×25
• they slaughtered ×11
• one slaughters ×3
• slaughters ×3
• deadly ×1
• slaughtering ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Exodus×6
• Leviticus×36
• Numbers×3
• Judges×1
• 1 Samuel×4
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×3
• 2 Chronicles×8
• Ezra×1
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×6
• Ezekiel×6
• Hosea×1

• Genesis 22:10

  Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

• Genesis 37:31

  They took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

• Exodus 12:6

  You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the community of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

• Exodus 12:21

  Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves animals of the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb.

• Exodus 29:11

  You shall slaughter the bull before YHWH at the entrance of the tent of meeting,

• Exodus 29:16

  You shall slaughter the ram and take its blood and splash it on the altar all around.

• Exodus 29:20

  You shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of Aaron and on the lobe of the ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and splash the blood on the altar all around.

• Exodus 34:25

  You shall not slaughter the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the Feast of Passover shall not remain overnight until the morning.

• Leviticus 1:5

  He shall slaughter the young bull before YHWH, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall present the blood and splash the blood against the altar all around, the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Leviticus 1:11

  He shall slaughter it on the side of the altar northward before YHWH, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall splash its blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 3:2

  He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall splash the blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 3:8

  He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it before the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall splash its blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 3:13

  He shall lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall splash its blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 4:4

  He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before YHWH, lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slaughter the bull before YHWH.

• Leviticus 4:15

  The elders of the community shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before YHWH, and one shall slaughter the bull before YHWH.

• Leviticus 4:24

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it in the place where one slaughters the burnt offering before YHWH; it is a sin offering.

• Leviticus 4:29

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.

• Leviticus 4:33

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where one slaughters the burnt offering.

• Leviticus 6:25

  “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying: This is the instruction for the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before YHWH; it is a most holy thing.

• Leviticus 7:2

  In the place where they slaughter the burnt offering they shall slaughter the guilt offering, and its blood he shall splash against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 8:15

  He slaughtered it, and Moses took the blood and put it on the horns of the altar all around with his finger, and purified the altar; and the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar, and consecrated it to make expiation for it.

• Leviticus 8:19

  He slaughtered it, and Moses splashed the blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 8:23

  He slaughtered it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 9:8

  Aaron drew near to the altar and slaughtered the calf of the sin offering that was for himself.

• Leviticus 9:12

  He slaughtered the burnt offering, and the sons of Aaron handed the blood to him, and he splashed it against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 9:15

  He presented the offering of the people, took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people, slaughtered it, and offered it for sin like the first.

• Leviticus 9:18

  He slaughtered the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace that was for the people, and the sons of Aaron handed the blood to him, and he splashed it against the altar all around,

• Leviticus 14:5

  The priest shall command that they slaughter the one bird in an earthen vessel over living water.

• Leviticus 14:6

  The living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the living water.

• Leviticus 14:13

  He shall slaughter the lamb in the place where one slaughters the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place; for like the sin offering, the guilt offering —it belongs to the priest; it is a most holy thing.

• Leviticus 14:19

  The priest shall offer the sin offering and make expiation for the one being purified from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering.

• Leviticus 14:25

  He shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 14:50

  He shall slaughter the one bird in an earthen vessel over living water.

• Leviticus 14:51

  He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the living water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

• Leviticus 16:11

  And Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering that is for himself and make expiation for himself and for his house, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering that is for himself.

• Leviticus 16:15

  Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the cover of expiation and in front of the cover of expiation.

• Leviticus 17:3

  Any man of the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp,

• Leviticus 22:28

  And a cow or a ewe, it and its young, you shall not slaughter on one day.

• Numbers 11:22

  Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered for them, to be enough for them?”

• Numbers 14:16

  ‘Because YHWH was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give them, he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

And 41 more times.