shoulder
she.khem denotes the bodily shoulder, especially in scenes of carrying, bodily position, and burdens or yokes.
The supplied verses most often show this noun in clauses where an item is placed or carried on a person’s shoulder; it also occurs in descriptions of height or bodily movement and in clauses concerning a burden, yoke, or united service.
Senses in use
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Shoulder in carrying and placement scenes · dominant
The construct form occurs where items are put on or carried on a person’s shoulder: in Genesis 21:14 the APB renders bread and water as being placed “on her shoulder,” and in Joshua 4:5 it renders each man taking a stone “on his shoulder.” Genesis 24:15, Genesis 24:45, Exodus 12:34, Judges 9:48, Job 31:36, and Isaiah 22:22 likewise place a jar, bowls, a branch, a written matter, or a key in a shoulder-related clause.
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Shoulder in bodily-position descriptions · common
In 1 Samuel 9:2 and 1 Samuel 10:23, the construct form occurs in the APB’s descriptions of Saul as taller than the people “from his shoulder upward.” In 1 Samuel 10:9, the same form appears when he turns his shoulder to leave Samuel; Genesis 9:23 places a mantle on the shoulders of Shem and Japheth.
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Shoulder in burden, yoke, and service clauses · occasional
In Genesis 49:15, the construct form occurs as the APB renders someone bending his shoulder in a clause about bearing and forced labor. Isaiah 10:27 and Isaiah 14:25 mention a burden or yoke being removed from a shoulder, while Zephaniah 3:9 renders the peoples serving “with one shoulder.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the clearest carrying and bodily descriptions, the APB uses “shoulder” or “shoulders,” including “on her shoulder,” “on his shoulder,” and “from his shoulder upward.” In several verses the translation does not make the term’s contribution clear, so its wording cannot be read as a gloss of the term.