shever · fracture, ruin

What it means

shever (שֶׁבֶר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “fracture, ruin”.

Breaking, fracture; also ruin, disaster.

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. When a bone or a pot gives way.
2. The downfall of a people or someone.
3. The explanation of a dream.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Breaking: the breaking of something, the fracture of a bone and, above all, the ruin of a person or a people. It comes from the verb שָׁבַר, ‘break’ (H7665).

• “They heal the breaking of my people lightly” Jeremiah 6:14Jeremiah 8:11
• “Breaking upon breaking”: the announced ruin Jeremiah 4:20Isaiah 1:28Lamentations 2:11
• “Beyond remedy {is} your breaking” Jeremiah 30:12Isaiah 30:26
• “Fracture for fracture”: the law of harm Leviticus 24:20Leviticus 21:19
• “Before a breaking {comes} pride” Proverbs 16:18
• The interpretation of a dream Judges 7:15

Historical and cultural background

Jeremiah accuses prophets and priests of healing the breaking of the people “lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11).

How we translate it

“Breaking” 21 times in the prophets and Proverbs, and “shattering” 11, above all in Isaiah and Lamentations (“the shattering of the daughter of my people”, Lamentations 2:11). In the laws of the body, “fracture” or “broken” (Leviticus 24:20; 21:19); in Isaiah 30:26, “the fracture of his people”. In Judges 7:15 the dream and its ‘breaking’, that is, what opens it up, is rendered “its interpretation”.

How it is translated

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

• breaking ×21
• shattering ×11
• fracture ×4
• broken ×2
• as one breaks ×1
• because of its breakings ×1
• crash ×1
• fractures ×1
• interpretation ×1
• ruin ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Leviticus×4
• Judges×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×1
• Proverbs×4
• Isaiah×9
• Jeremiah×15
• Lamentations×5
• Ezekiel×1
• Amos×1
• Nahum×1
• Zephaniah×1

• Leviticus 21:19

  or a man who has a broken foot or a broken hand,

• Leviticus 24:20

  fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has inflicted a defect on a human being, so it shall be inflicted on him.

• Judges 7:15

  When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for YHWH has given into your hand the camp of Midian.”

• Job 41:25

  At its rising the mighty are afraid; because of its breakings they are bewildered.

• Psalms 60:2

  You made the earth quake, you split it open; heal its fractures, for it totters.

• Proverbs 15:4

  A calm tongue is a tree of life, but crookedness in it is a breaking of the spirit.

• Proverbs 16:18

  Before a breaking comes pride, and before a fall, haughtiness of spirit.

• Proverbs 17:19

  Whoever loves transgression loves strife; whoever raises high his door seeks a breaking.

• Proverbs 18:12

  Before a breaking the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor comes humility.

• Isaiah 1:28

  But the shattering of transgressors and sinners will come together, and those who abandon YHWH will be consumed.

• Isaiah 15:5

  My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives as far as Zoar, Eglath-shelishiyah; for the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up it; for on the road of Horonaim they raise a cry of shattering.

• Isaiah 30:13

  therefore this iniquity will be to you like a breach about to fall, bulging out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.

• Isaiah 30:14

  And he will break it as one breaks a potters’ jar, crushed without sparing, and there will not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to scoop water from the pool.”

• Isaiah 30:26

  And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, in the day when YHWH binds up the fracture of his people and heals the wound of his blow.

• Isaiah 51:19

  These two things have befallen you —who will grieve for you?— the devastation and the breaking, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?

• Isaiah 59:7

  Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness; devastation and shattering are on their highways.

• Isaiah 60:18

  Violence will no longer be heard in your land, devastation and shattering within your borders; and you will call your walls “Salvation,” and your gates “Praise.”

• Isaiah 65:14

  look, my servants will shout for joy from goodness of heart, but you will cry out from pain of heart, and from the shattering of spirit you will wail.

• Jeremiah 4:6

  Raise a banner toward Zion; flee for safety, do not stand still, for I am bringing evil from the north, and a great breaking.

• Jeremiah 4:20

  Breaking upon breaking is proclaimed, for the whole land is devastated; suddenly my tents are devastated, in a moment my curtains.

• Jeremiah 6:1

  Flee for safety, sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem, and in Tekoa blow the horn, and over Beth-haccherem raise a signal, for evil looks down from the north, and a great breaking.

• Jeremiah 6:14

  And they heal the breaking of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

• Jeremiah 8:11

  And they heal the breaking of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

• Jeremiah 8:21

  For the breaking of the daughter of my people I am broken; I go about in mourning; horror has seized me.

• Jeremiah 10:19

  Woe to me for my breaking! My wound is incurable. But I said: “Surely this is a sickness, and I must bear it.”

• Jeremiah 14:17

  And you will say to them this word: ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for with a great breaking has been broken the virgin daughter of my people, a wound incurable, very grievous.

• Jeremiah 30:12

  For thus says YHWH: Beyond remedy is your breaking, incurable your wound.

• Jeremiah 30:15

  Why do you cry out over your breaking? Beyond remedy is your pain. Because of the multitude of your iniquity, because your sins have become strong, I have done these things to you.

• Jeremiah 48:3

  A sound of crying from Horonaim: devastation and great breaking!

• Jeremiah 48:5

  For the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up it, weeping; for on the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of breaking.

• Jeremiah 50:22

  A sound of war in the land, and great breaking!

• Jeremiah 51:54

  A sound of crying from Babylon, and great breaking from the land of the Chaldeans!

• Lamentations 2:11

  My eyes are spent with tears; my insides are in turmoil; my liver is poured out on the ground because of the shattering of the daughter of my people, when child and nursing infant faint in the squares of the city.

• Lamentations 2:13

  What shall I cite as witness for you? What shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you so that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For great as the sea is your shattering; who can heal you?

• Lamentations 3:47

  Terror and pit have come upon us, devastation and shattering.

• Lamentations 3:48

  My eye runs down with streams of water because of the shattering of the daughter of my people.

• Lamentations 4:10

  The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became food for them in the shattering of the daughter of my people.

• Ezekiel 32:9

  And I will vex the heart of many peoples when I bring your shattering among the nations, to lands that you have not known.

• Amos 6:6

  those who drink from bowls of wine, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.

• Nahum 3:19

  There is no relief for your fracture; grievous is your wound. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not passed your evil continually?

And 4 more times.