shava · swear

What it means

shava (שָׁבַע) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “swear”.

Bind oneself solemnly, calling on God as witness; in the causative form, make someone swear. In Hebrew the verb looks like the word "seven".

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 promise with God as witness.
2. To make someone swear.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To swear: to bind oneself solemnly. BDB relates it to “seven”: to seven oneself, as if by repeating a declaration seven times. From the same root comes שְׁבוּעָה, “oath”.

• YHWH swears: “By myself I have sworn” Genesis 22:16Psalms 110:4
• The land that he swore to the fathers Deuteronomy 10:11
• Making someone swear Genesis 24:3Genesis 50:25
• “I make you swear”: the refrain of the Song Song of Songs 2:7

Historical and cultural background

The name Beersheba is explained in Genesis 21:31: “because there the two of them swore”, Abraham and Abimelech.

How we translate it

Forms of “swear”: “swore” 83, “swear” 55, “I have sworn” 9, “had sworn” 9, “has sworn” 8, “swears” 8… The causative form הִשְׁבִּיעַ is translated “make … swear” (“I will make you swear”, Genesis 24:3) or “put the people under oath”, and the noun is “oath”.

How it is translated

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

• swore ×83
• swear ×55
• I have sworn ×9
• had sworn ×9
• has sworn ×8
• swears ×8
• have sworn ×5
• sworn ×3
• put the people under oath ×2
• solemnly ×2
• others ×2

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×19
• Exodus×6
• Leviticus×4
• Numbers×8
• Deuteronomy×33
• Joshua×16
• Judges×6
• 1 Samuel×12
• 2 Samuel×6
• 1 Kings×10
• 2 Kings×2
• 2 Chronicles×4
• Ezra×2
• Nehemiah×2
• Psalms×12
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×5
• Isaiah×10
• Jeremiah×14
• Ezekiel×2
• Daniel×1
• Hosea×1
• Amos×4
• Micah×1
• Zephaniah×2
• Zechariah×2
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 21:23

  So now, swear to me here by Elohim that you will not deal falsely with me or with my children or with my descendants. As the loyal love that I have shown you, so you will show me and the land in which you have resided as an alien.”

• Genesis 21:24

  Abraham said, “I will swear.”

• Genesis 21:31

  That is why he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore.

• Genesis 22:16

  and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares YHWH, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only one,

• Genesis 24:3

  and I will make you swear by YHWH, the Elohim of the heavens and the Elohim of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,

• Genesis 24:7

  YHWH, the Elohim of the heavens, who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

• Genesis 24:9

  The servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his lord and swore to him concerning this matter.

• Genesis 24:37

  My lord made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;

• Genesis 25:33

  Jacob said, “Swear to me today.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

• Genesis 26:3

  Reside as an alien in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

• 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 31:53

  May the Elohim of Abraham and the Elohim of Nahor judge between us, the Elohim of their father.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

• Genesis 47:31

  He said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed down upon the head of the bed.

• Genesis 50:5

  ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Look, I am about to die; in my tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return.’”

• Genesis 50:6

  Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

• Genesis 50:24

  Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but Elohim will surely attend to you and bring you up from this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

• Genesis 50:25

  Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “Elohim will surely attend to you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”

• Exodus 13:5

  When YHWH brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall perform this service in this month.

• Exodus 13:11

  When YHWH brings you to the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,

• Exodus 13:19

  Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had solemnly made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “Elohim will surely attend to you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

• Exodus 32:13

  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

• Exodus 33:1

  And YHWH spoke to Moses, “Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’

• Leviticus 5:4

  Or if a person swears, speaking rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in any matter that a man may speak rashly in an oath, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he will be guilty in one of these.

• Leviticus 6:3

  or has found something lost and lied about it and sworn falsely about any one of all the things that a man may do so as to sin by them,

• Leviticus 6:5

  or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall repay it in full and add a fifth of it to it; he shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day of his guilt offering.

• Leviticus 19:12

  And you shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your Elohim. I am YHWH.

• Numbers 5:19

  And the priest shall make her swear and say to the woman, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness while under the authority of your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.

• Numbers 5:21

  then the priest shall make the woman swear the oath of imprecation, and the priest shall say to the woman, ‘May YHWH make you an imprecation and an oath among your people, when YHWH makes your thigh sag and your belly swell;

• Numbers 11:12

  Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as the nurse carries the nursing child, to the ground that you swore to their fathers’?

• 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.’

• Numbers 14:23

  shall not see the land that I swore to their fathers; and none of those who spurn me shall see it.

• Numbers 30:2

  When a man vows a vow to YHWH or swears an oath to bind an obligation on his soul, he shall not profane his word; according to all that comes out of his mouth he shall do.

• Numbers 32:10

  YHWH’s anger burned on that day, and he swore, saying,

• Numbers 32:11

  ‘The men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall not see the ground that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they did not fully follow me;

• Deuteronomy 1:8

  See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that YHWH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.”

• Deuteronomy 1:34

  YHWH heard the voice of your words, and he was angry and swore, saying,

• Deuteronomy 1:35

  “Not a man among these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers,

• Deuteronomy 2:14

  The days that we traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered were thirty-eight years, until the whole generation, the men of war, had come to an end from the midst of the camp, as YHWH had sworn to them.

• Deuteronomy 4:21

  YHWH was incensed with me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan and that I would not enter into the good land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance.

• Deuteronomy 4:31

  For a merciful El is YHWH your Elohim; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant of your fathers that he swore to them.

And 146 more times.