sha.vah denotes seizing people or goods in conflict and carrying people away under captors’ control.

The occurrences consistently describe seizure in conflict: people, families, and sometimes possessions are taken or carried away, while participial forms identify those who hold others captive. Passive forms portray those who have been seized, and the same usage can include a call to lead away captives or an appeal concerning people held by captors.

1. Seizing and holding people or goods in captivity · dominant

   Qal forms describe combatants taking women, children, livestock, property, or other people: in 1 Samuel 30:2 the APB renders the attackers’ action as taking the women and leading them away, and in Numbers 31:9 it renders the taking of Midianite women, children, animals, and goods. Niphal forms portray the affected persons as having been taken, as in 1 Samuel 30:3; active participles identify their captors in 1 Kings 8:50 and Psalm 137:3.

   1 Samuel 30:21 Samuel 30:3Numbers 31:92 Chronicles 28:81 Kings 8:50Psalm 137:3

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the action with “took captive,” “taken captive,” or “carried away,” and presents participial forms as “captors.” These renderings indicate the clauses’ overall portrayal rather than a fixed English equivalent in every occurrence.