to throw
sha.lakh denotes forcefully sending something or someone away, into a place, down, or out of presence.
The term most often marks an act of propelling a person or object into, onto, or toward a specified place. It also appears for clearing away unwanted objects or transgressions, expelling persons from presence, casting something down to the ground, and placing someone figuratively behind one’s back.
Senses in use
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Hurling or placing into a location · dominant
In Deuteronomy 9:21, the first-person sequential imperfect describes taking the calf’s crushed dust and sending it into the torrent. Other Hiphil forms place a cloak on Elisha in 1 Kings 19:19, salt into water in 2 Kings 2:21, a man into Elisha’s grave in 2 Kings 13:21, and Absalom into a pit in 2 Samuel 18:17; the APB renders these clauses with forms of “threw” or “threw ... into.”
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Casting away in removal or disposal · common
The Hiphil forms describe removing things regarded as unwanted: altars are sent into the Kidron Valley in 2 Chronicles 30:14, garments and articles are left behind in haste in 2 Kings 7:15, and idols are put away in Isaiah 2:20. Ezekiel 18:31 applies the same action to transgressions, while the APB renders the verse “Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions.”
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Casting out from presence or place · occasional
In 2 Kings 17:20, the perfect form occurs in the clause about Israel being sent from the LORD’s presence; 2 Kings 24:20 similarly speaks of being cast out from his presence. The passive form in Ezekiel 16:5 presents the abandoned woman as cast out on open land, and the APB renders these contexts with “cast out” or “cast them from his presence.”
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Bringing down to the ground · occasional
In Ezekiel 28:17, the first-person perfect places its object “to the earth before kings,” and Daniel 8:12 puts truth “down to the ground.” Passive forms likewise describe a grave’s occupant as thrown from it in Isaiah 14:19 and a vine as cast down to the land in Ezekiel 19:12.
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Putting someone behind one’s back · rare
In 1 Kings 14:9, the second-person perfect has the speaker as the object placed “behind your back.” Ezekiel 23:35 uses the same expression in a clause that says the addressee forgot the speaker; the APB renders it “cast me behind your back.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly uses “threw” and “cast,” with contextual expansions such as “cast away,” “cast out,” and “cast down.” Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these renderings identify the clause’s presentation rather than a fixed English equivalent.