shakul · bereaved

What it means

shakul (שַׁכּוּל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “bereaved”.

Deprived of children or young; said of one who has lost them. A she-bear robbed of her cubs is an image of very great fury (2 Samuel 17:8; Hosea 13:8; Proverbs 17:12).

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. Left with no offspring; unable to conceive.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• robbed of her cubs ×3
• barren ×2
• be bereaved of children ×1

Where it appears

• 2 Samuel×1
• Proverbs×1
• Song of Songs×2
• Jeremiah×1
• Hosea×1

• 2 Samuel 17:8

  And Hushai said, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are bitter of soul, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your father is a man of war, and he will not spend the night with the people.

• Proverbs 17:12

  Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, and not a senseless man in his folly.

• 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 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.

• Jeremiah 18:21

  Therefore give their sons to famine, and pour them out into the hands of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of children and widows; and let their men be slain by death, their young men struck by the sword in battle.

• Hosea 13:8

  I will meet them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and I will tear open the covering of their heart, and there I will devour them like a lioness; the animal of the field will rip them apart.