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Hebrew noun (masculine) · H7926

שְׁכֶם

shekemshek-em'

shoulder

21 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: shᵉkem

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H7926is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 9 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 15
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H7926

the neck (between the shoulders) as the place of burdens; figuratively, the spur of ahill

The King James renders it: back, [idiom] consent, portion, shoulder.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

shekem is rendered "shoulder". It stands 21 times in the Hebrew text, across nine books.

  • Six of the uses stand in Genesis, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 9:23Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
  • The Greek text spells it fifteen different ways.

The first use

Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Genesis 9:23שְׁכֶ֣ם

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Six of the word's twenty-one uses are in Genesis.

The other 30 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • shoulder his7
  • a shoulder3
  • shoulder her3
  • from shoulder his2
  • shoulder its2
  • shoulder my1
  • shoulder of1
  • shoulder their1
  • shoulder your1

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

שְׁכַחshekachto findUses18
שְׁכָבָהshekabahsemenUses9
שְׁכֹבֶתshekobethcopulationUses4
שְׁכוֹלshekolbereavementUses3
שְׁכַןshekanto dwellUses2

Other numbers on this spelling

Strong gave these words the same spelling and different numbers, so the site counts and defines them apart.

All 21, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

15 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • שִׁכְמ֑וֹ4
  • שְׁכֶ֥ם2
  • שִׁכְמוֹ֙2
  • שִׁכְמ֔וֹ2
  • מִשִּׁכְמ֣וֹ1
  • מִשִּׁכְמ֖וֹ1
  • שְׁכֶ֣ם1
  • שֶׁ֑כֶם1
  • שִׁכְמָ֛הּ1
  • שִׁכְמָ֔הּ1
  • שִׁכְמָֽהּ׃1
  • שִׁכְמ֖וֹ1

and 3 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular9HNcmsc/Sp3ms
  • noun · masculine singular3HNcmsa
  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singular3HNcmsc/Sp3fs
  • preposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular2HR/Ncmsc/Sp3ms
  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)1HNcmsc
  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular1HNcmsc/Sp1bs
  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singular1HNcmsc/Sp2ms
  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine plural1HNcmsc/Sp3mp

Genesis

six uses
  • Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.

    Genesis 9:23

    • שְׁכֶ֣םshekhemnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: shoulder of
  • Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

    Genesis 21:14

    • שִׁכְמָ֛הּshikhmahnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: shoulder her
  • Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.

    Genesis 24:15

    • שִׁכְמָֽהּ׃shikhmahnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: shoulder her
  • And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

    Genesis 24:45

    • שִׁכְמָ֔הּshikhmahnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: shoulder her
  • And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

    Genesis 48:22

    • שְׁכֶ֥םshekhemnoun · masculine singulartagged: a shoulder
  • He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.

    Genesis 49:15

    • שִׁכְמוֹ֙shikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his

Exodus

one use
  • So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing.

    Exodus 12:34

    • שִׁכְמָֽם׃shikhmamnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: shoulder their

Joshua

one use
  • and said to them, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel,

    Joshua 4:5

    • שִׁכְמ֔וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his

Judges

one use
  • he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”

    Judges 9:48

    • שִׁכְמ֑וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his

1 Samuel

three uses
  • And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the people.

    1 Samuel 9:2

    • מִשִּׁכְמ֣וֹmishikhmopreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: from shoulder his
  • As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all the signs came to pass that day.

    1 Samuel 10:9

    • שִׁכְמוֹ֙shikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his
  • So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.

    1 Samuel 10:23

    • מִשִּׁכְמ֖וֹmishikhmopreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: from shoulder his

Job

one use
  • Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown.

    Job 31:36

    • שִׁ֭כְמִיshikhminoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: shoulder my

Psalms

two uses
  • For You will put them to flight when Your bow is trained upon them.

    Psalms 21:12

    • שֶׁ֑כֶםshekhemnoun · masculine singulartagged: a shoulder
  • “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket.

    Psalms 81:6

    • שִׁכְמ֑וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his

Isaiah

five uses
  • For as in the day of Midian You have shattered the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor.

    Isaiah 9:4

    • שִׁכְמ֔וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder its
  • For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

    Isaiah 9:6

    • שִׁכְמ֑וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his
  • On that day the burden will be lifted from your shoulders, and the yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.

    Isaiah 10:27

    • שִׁכְמֶ֔ךָshikhmekhanoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder your
  • I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

    Isaiah 14:25

    • שִׁכְמ֖וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder its
  • I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

    Isaiah 22:22

    • שִׁכְמ֑וֹshikhmonoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: shoulder his

Zephaniah

one use
  • For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

    Zephaniah 3:9

    • שְׁכֶ֥םshekhemnoun · masculine singulartagged: a shoulder

The letters

Gematria 360· 920 mispar gadol

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →