the shoulder: the upper back and ridge of muscle where a person carries a load
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is the shoulder, and more exactly the upper back, the ridge of muscle between the neck and the arm that the body is built to carry with. Nearly every use grows out of that one picture. It is where a person sets a load, and so in Hebrew it becomes the natural image for anything a person has to bear.
From that single body part the word branches into a set of vivid, everyday pictures:
a real load set on the back: a waterskin, a water jar, a stone, an axe
the burden or yoke of hard labor, and the relief of having it lifted off
rule and responsibility laid on the shoulder, from a nation's government to the key of a royal house
the turned shoulder of someone walking away or driven off in flight
the measure "from the shoulders up," marking a person a head taller than the crowd
the shared shoulder of people pulling together as one
What holds these together is not a chain of separate meanings but one concrete image doing a great deal of work. Whether the thing on the shoulder is a jar of water, a yoke of slavery, or the government of a coming king, the word keeps pointing to the same place on the body and the same act of bearing.
Nuances
1athe shoulder as the body part on which objects are physically carried
TranslatabilityDirect
Gen 9:23Gen 21:14Gen 24:15Gen 24:45Exo 12:34Jos 4:5Jdg 9:48Job 31:36
1bthe shoulder as bearer of a burden or yoke, standing for hard labor and oppression and its relief
Gen 49:15Psa 81:6(7)Isa 9:4(3)Isa 10:27Isa 14:25
1cthe shoulder as the place rule and authority are laid, from a nation's government to a royal office
Isa 9:6(5)Isa 22:22
1din the expression "to turn the shoulder," to turn away and leave, or to be put to flight
1Sa 10:9Psa 21:12(13)
1ein the phrase "from the shoulders up," a way of describing someone who stands taller than everyone around
1Sa 9:21Sa 10:23
1fin the phrase "with one shoulder," side by side and in full agreement
Zep 3:9
1ga portion or ridge of land, where the exact sense of the word is uncertain
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested
Gen 48:22*
Gen 48:22
What Jacob gives Joseph as "one shekem" in Genesis 48:22, and what the word denotes there.
majorityAn extra portion or share of land, one allotment more than his brothers receive.; HALOT, s.v. שְׁכֶם; BDB, s.v. שְׁכֶם
minorityA mountain ridge or slope, the "shoulder" of the hill country, taken as a veiled reference to the city Shechem.; Wenham, Genesis 16-50 (Word Biblical Commentary 2)
anchors idioms the English word does not carry, such as serving God "with one shoulder," meaning shoulder to shoulder in full agreementZep 3:9
Both
both name the body part between the neck and the arm where loads are set and carriedGen 21:14
Only shoulder
English "shoulder" also means the edge of a road or, as a verb, to take on a task, senses the Hebrew word does not have
“back”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How shekhem differs from similar Hebrew words
כָּתֵףthe shoulder as the flat shoulder-blade or side-piece, used for the shoulder-pieces of the priestly garment and the sides of buildings, whereas this word is the load-bearing upper back.
names the shoulder-piece of a garment, the part of the priestly vestment that goes over the shoulders.Exo 28:7Exo 28:12Exo 39:4
extends architecturally to the side or flanking piece of a structure, the shoulder-like projection of a building, altar, or stand.1Ki 7:30Ezk 40:182Ch 4:10
extends geographically to the slope or side of a land, the shoulder of a hill or border running along a territory.Jos 15:8Jos 18:12Num 34:11
שְׁכֶםShechem is a biblical name written exactly like שְׁכֶם, the common Hebrew word grouped here.
shekhem in the other biblical languages
ὦμοςGreek“shoulder”the plain Greek word for the shoulder as the place a burden or a rescued sheep is carried; it lacks the Hebrew idioms of turning the shoulder to flee or serving with one shoulder.
Carries the idiom of rule and authority resting on the shoulder: government, dominion, and delegated office are pictured as a weight the shoulder bears. The plain Greek body-part word never reaches for this figure.Isa 9:6Isa 22:22
Serves as a measure of bodily stature: a person is described as taller than everyone else from the shoulders upward. The Greek word is never used this way.1Sa 9:21Sa 10:23
Names united, side-by-side action, an image close to the English "shoulder to shoulder," where people act with one accord.Zep 3:9
Both
Both name the literal shoulder as the part of the body that carries a load, whether a jar of water, a rescued animal, or provisions for a journey.Gen 21:14Luk 15:5
Both picture the shoulder as the place where a burden or yoke is laid on a person, whether an oppressive weight imposed by others or one lifted off.Isa 10:27Mat 23:4
The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) treat שְׁכֶם as a single noun meaning the shoulder or upper back, the region on which burdens are borne, with the figurative extensions (bearing a yoke, carrying rule and office) and the fixed idioms (turning the shoulder, "from the shoulder upward," "with one shoulder") all derived from that concrete sense. The one genuinely disputed occurrence is Genesis 48:22, where שְׁכֶם אַחַד is read either as an extra portion of land or as a ridge punning on the city Shechem (Wenham, WBC).