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Hebrew adjective · H8217

שָׁפָל

shaphalshaw-fawl'

low

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

Concordance spelling: shâphâl

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H8217is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 8 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 13
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H8217

depressed, literally or figuratively

The King James renders it: base(-st), humble, low(-er, -ly).

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

shaphal is rendered "low". It stands 17 times in the Hebrew text, across eight books.

  • Six of the uses stand in Ezekiel, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Leviticus 13:20The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.
  • The Greek text spells it thirteen different ways.

The first use

The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.

Leviticus 13:20שָׁפָ֣ל

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

Where the word stands

Six of the word's seventeen uses are in Ezekiel.

The other 31 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

  • lowly6
  • and a lowly of2
  • and deep2
  • and lowly2
  • deep2
  • low1
  • low of1
  • the lowly1

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.

שָׁפַטshaphatto judgeUses202
שָׁפַךְshaphakto pour: pourUses114
שָׁפָןshaphanrock badgerUses34
שָׁפֵלshaphelto abaseUses31
שָׁפַתshaphathto setUses5
שָׁפָהshaphahbe bareUses2
שָׁפָתshaphathash heepUses2
שָׁפָהshaphahcheeseUses1
שָׁפַרshapharto polishUses1

The words it stands beside

All 17, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

13 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

  • וּשְׁפַל־2
  • וּשְׁפָלָ֥ה2
  • שָׁפָ֖ל2
  • שְׁפָלָ֔ה2
  • הַשָּׁפָ֣לָה1
  • וְשָׁפָ֣ל1
  • וּשְׁפָלִ֖ים1
  • שָׁפָ֣ל1
  • שָׁפָ֔ל1
  • שְׁפָלָֽה׃1
  • שְׁפָלִ֣ים1
  • שְׁפָלִ֔ים1

and 1 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • adjective · masculine singular4HAamsa
  • adjective · feminine singular3HAafsa
  • adjective · masculine plural2HAampa
  • conjunction (“and”) + adjective · feminine singular2HC/Aafsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)2HC/Aamsc
  • adjective · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”)1HAafsc
  • conjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine plural1HC/Aampa
  • conjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine singular1HC/Aamsa
  • the definite article (“the”) + adjective · feminine singular1HTd/Aafsa

Leviticus

four uses
  • The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.

    Leviticus 13:20

    • שָׁפָ֣לshafaladjective · masculine singulartagged: deep
  • But when the priest examines it, if there is no white hair in it, and it is not beneath the skin and has faded, the priest shall isolate him for seven days.

    Leviticus 13:21

    • וּשְׁפָלָ֥הushefalahconjunction (“and”) + adjective · feminine singulartagged: and deep
  • But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the spot, and it is not beneath the skin but has faded, the priest shall isolate him for seven days.

    Leviticus 13:26

    • וּשְׁפָלָ֥הushefalahconjunction (“and”) + adjective · feminine singulartagged: and deep
  • He is to examine the house, and if the mildew on the walls consists of green or red depressions that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall,

    Leviticus 14:37

    • שָׁפָ֖לshafaladjective · masculine singulartagged: deep

2 Samuel

one use
  • and I will humiliate and humble myself even more than this. Yet I will be honored by the maidservants of whom you have spoken.”

    2 Samuel 6:22

    • שָׁפָ֖לshafaladjective · masculine singulartagged: lowly

Job

one use
  • He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.

    Job 5:11

    • שְׁפָלִ֣יםshefalimadjective · masculine pluraltagged: lowly

Psalms

one use
  • Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.

    Psalms 138:6

    • וְשָׁפָ֣לveshafalconjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine singulartagged: and lowly

Proverbs

one use
  • A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.

    Proverbs 29:23

    • וּשְׁפַל־ushefal-conjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: and a lowly of

Isaiah

two uses
  • For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

    Isaiah 57:15

    • וּשְׁפַל־ushefal-conjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: and a lowly of
    • שְׁפָלִ֔יםshefalimadjective · masculine pluraltagged: lowly

Ezekiel

six uses
  • It sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in height, with branches turned toward him; yet its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and yielded branches and sent out shoots.

    Ezekiel 17:6

    • שִׁפְלַ֣תshiflatadjective · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: low of
  • so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to lift itself up, surviving only by keeping his covenant.

    Ezekiel 17:14

    • שְׁפָלָ֔הshefalahadjective · feminine singulartagged: lowly
  • Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

    Ezekiel 17:24

    • שָׁפָ֔לshafaladjective · masculine singulartagged: low
  • This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.

    Ezekiel 21:26

    • הַשָּׁפָ֣לָהhashafalahthe definite article (“the”) + adjective · feminine singulartagged: the lowly
  • I will restore Egypt from captivity and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.

    Ezekiel 29:14

    • שְׁפָלָֽה׃shefalahadjective · feminine singulartagged: lowly
  • Egypt will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the nations. For I will diminish Egypt so that it will never again rule over the nations.

    Ezekiel 29:15

    • שְׁפָלָ֔הshefalahadjective · feminine singulartagged: lowly

Malachi

one use
  • “So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not kept My ways, but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

    Malachi 2:9

    • וּשְׁפָלִ֖יםushefalimconjunction (“and”) + adjective · masculine pluraltagged: and lowly

The letters

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 words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

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 →