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Bible Lexicons
Old Testament Hebrew Lexical Dictionary Hebrew Lexicon
Strong's #7927 - שְׁכֶם
- Brown-Driver-Briggs
- Strong
Shechem = “back” or “shoulder”
1) son of Hamor, the chieftain of the Hivites at Shechem at the time of Jacob’s arrival (noun proper masculine)
2) a city in Manasseh; located in a valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, 34 miles (54 kilometers) north of Jerusalem and 7 miles (noun proper locative)
- Book
- Word
1 district in Northern Palestine (probably shoulder (saddle ?) of mountain); — ׳מְקוֺם שׁ Genesis 12:6, שְׁכֶ֑מָךְ Genesis 37:14; = city (שְׁכֶ֑מָה שְֶׁכֶם, Hosea 6:9 שֶׁ֑כְמָךְ) Joshua 24:1; ׳עִיר שׁ Genesis 33:18 20t. Judges 9 (׳בַּעֲלֵי שׁ Genesis 33:2 12t., ׳מִגְדַּלשֿׁ׳ב Genesis 33:46; Genesis 33:47), Hosea 6:9 21t. (׳עִיר שׁ Genesis 33:18); city of refuge Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:21; 1 Chronicles 6:52. — WMM As.u.Eur.394, compare Egyptian Sa-ka-ma; (compare Jen ZA x (1895) 356); modern Nablûs (from Roman name Neapolis); see Buhl G 200f. GASm G 332ff. 345 Wilsons Hast. DB SHECHEM.
2. proper name, masculine (on connection with
1 compare Judges 9:28), 'son' of Hamor, also Genesis 33:19; Genesis 34:2 10t. 34, Joshua 24:3.
שְׁכֶם m. in pause שֶׁכֶם Psalms 21:13 with suffix שִׁכְמוֹ
(1) the shoulder, or rather (as well remarked by Jo. Simonis) the hinder part of both shoulder-blades, or the upper part of the back next below the neck; a word, therefore, only used in the singular, differing from כָּתֵף. See Job 31:22, כְּתֵפִי מִשִּׁכְמָה תִפּוֹל “let my shoulder fall from its shoulder-blade,” i.e. from the back to which it is joined. ־ָה is here, although it is written without Mappik, to be taken with the printed Masorah as a suffix, compare Numbers 15:28 and there is no need to lay down a new feminine form שִׁכְמָה = שְׁכֶם. (This word appears to be a primitive, like many nouns implying members of the body, and the verb הִשְׁבִּים appears to be derived hence). It is
(a) the member on which a load to be borne is laid, Job 31:36. Isaiah 9:5, “the government shall be upon his shoulders,” laid on him as a load for him to bear. Also, Isaiah 22:22, “I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder,” i.e. I will give it to him to bear; compare the phrase עַל יְדֵי, under the word יָד. Zephaniah 3:9, “to serve God שְׁכֶם אֶחָד with one back,” i.e. with one mind, ὁμοθυμαδόν, a metaphor taken from those that bear either a burden or a yoke; compare Syr. ܚܕ ܒܬܦܐ, jointly.
(b) the member on which blows are inflicted. Isaiah 9:3, מַטֵּה שִׁכְמוֹ “the rod (which threatened) his shoulder.” Used also
(c) in the phrase, הִפְנָה שְׁכֶם to turn the back, used of one going away, 1 Samuel 10:9 (comp. פָּנָה עֹרֶף Joshua 7:12; Jeremiah 48:39); hence is illustrated the passage, Psalms 21:13, כִּי תְשִׁיתֵמוֹ שֶׁ֑כֶם Vulg. “quoniam pones eos dorsum,” i.e. thou causest them to turn their backs (compare נָתַן עֹרֶף Psalms 18:41). LXX. ὅτι θήσεις αὐτοὺς νῶτον.
(2) metaph. a tract of land (pr. elevated, as if a back), like the Arab. مَنْكِبُ a shoulder and a tract of land, Genesis 48:22.
(3) [Shechem], pr.n.
(a) of a city in Mount Ephraim, situated between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, where afterwards stood Flavia Neapolis, whence it is now called نابلس Nablus, Genesis 12:6, 33:18 34:2 Joshua 20:7, 21:20, 21 Joshua 21:21; Psalms 60:8; 1 Kings 12:25. LXX. Συχέμ (compare Acts 7:16). Vulg. Sichem. With ה parag. שֶׁכְמָה to Sichem, Hosea 6:9. See Relandi Palæstina, page 1004-10.
(b) a Canaanite, Genesis 33:19, 34:2, seqq.
