sha.sa denotes making a cleft or tearing something open, especially a divided hoof and, in other clauses, an act of tearing apart.

The term most often occurs in descriptions of an animal hoof being divided into a cleft, including the dietary criteria in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. In other clauses it describes tearing an animal apart or open; 1 Samuel 24:8 is less clear because the APB presents the action as David arising.

1. Dividing a hoof into a cleft · dominant

   The Qal participial forms occur in the animal descriptions of Leviticus 11:3, Leviticus 11:7, and Deuteronomy 14:6, where the APB renders the relevant hoof condition as an animal that “cleaves the cleft of the hoof” or “cleaves the cleft of two hooves.” The passive participle in Deuteronomy 14:7 and the noun-form token in Leviticus 11:26 occur in the contrasting statement that the hoof has not been divided or does not cleave the cleft.

   Leviticus 11:3Leviticus 11:7Leviticus 11:26Deuteronomy 14:6Deuteronomy 14:7
2. Tearing an animal open or apart · common

   In Leviticus 1:17, the Piel sequential perfect occurs in the instruction to tear the offering open by its wings without severing it. In Judges 14:6, Piel sequential imperfect forms occur as the APB says that he “tore him apart” as one tears apart a kid. In 1 Samuel 24:8, a Piel sequential imperfect is present, but the APB renders the clause as David having “arose afterward,” so the term’s specific contribution is not isolated by the translation.

   Leviticus 1:17Judges 14:61 Samuel 24:8

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the hoof clauses, the APB uses “cleaves the cleft” and contrasts it with animals that “have not divided the hoof.” In the tearing clauses it uses “tear it open” and “tore him apart”; its rendering of 1 Samuel 24:8 as “arose afterward” does not clearly isolate the term.