Lexicon
שָׁכַב
sha.khav
H7901
H:V Hebrew

to lie down: lay down

213
Occurrences
26
Books
Hebrew
Language

sha.khav denotes lying or reclining, including sleep, sexual relations, death with one's fathers, and placing someone down.

The supplied verses most often show bodily lying or reclining, whether for sleep, rest, warmth, illness, or remaining on the ground. They also use the verb for lying with another person, for the recurrent statement that a ruler lies down with his fathers, and in causative or passive forms for placing someone down or being laid among the slain.

Senses in use

  1. Lying down or reclining · dominant

    Qal forms describe people or animals in a recumbent position: Samuel is told to return and lie down in 1 Samuel 3:5, while Elijah lies down and sleeps under the broom tree in 1 Kings 19:5. The same posture appears when two lie down together for warmth in Ecclesiastes 4:11 and when Ahab lies on his bed without eating in 1 Kings 21:4.

  2. Lying down with one's fathers at death · common

    In the recurring Qal formula, a king lies down with his fathers and is followed by burial or succession. In 1 Kings 11:43 the APB renders Solomon's lying down with his fathers alongside his burial and Rehoboam's reign, and 2 Samuel 7:12 places the phrase when David's days are fulfilled before the raising up of his descendant.

  3. Lying with another person · common

    The Qal verb occurs in clauses involving a woman or wives. In 2 Samuel 13:11, the imperative addresses Tamar with the request rendered by the APB as “Come, lie with me,” while 2 Samuel 12:11 concerns a neighbor lying with David's wives; 1 Samuel 2:22 likewise describes what Eli's sons did with the women at the tent entrance.

  4. Placing someone or something down · occasional

    Hiphil forms present an agent causing a person or object to be laid down. In 1 Kings 17:19, after taking the child upstairs, Elijah lays him on his bed; in 1 Kings 3:20, the woman lays children in different embraces; and 2 Chronicles 16:14 describes people laying a body on a bier.

  5. Being laid among the slain · rare

    Passive and Qal forms portray the dead as laid or lying with the slain and uncircumcised. In Ezekiel 32:19 the APB renders the imperative as “be laid with the uncircumcised,” and Ezekiel 32:32 places Pharaoh amid those slain by the sword.

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses the APB uses “lay down,” “lying,” “slept,” and “lie with,” and it also renders the royal death formula with “lay down” or “slept with his fathers.” In causative and passive contexts it uses “laid” or “be laid”; these renderings reflect whole clauses rather than a word-by-word alignment.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture