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shenayim

שְׁנַיִם

HebrewH8147two, both, ...

Appears 769 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 1:16Gen 4:19Gen 5:18Gen 5:20Gen 5:26Gen 5:28Gen 6:19Gen 6:20Gen 7:2Gen 7:9 (2×)Gen 7:15 (2×)Gen 9:22Gen 10:25Gen 11:20Gen 17:20Gen 19:1Gen 19:8Gen 19:15Gen 19:16Gen 19:30 (2×)Gen 19:36Gen 22:3Gen 24:22Gen 25:16Gen 25:23 (2×)Gen 27:9Gen 29:16Gen 31:33Gen 31:41Gen 32:7(8)Gen 32:10(11)Gen 32:22(23) (2×)Gen 33:1Gen 34:25Gen 35:22Gen 40:2Gen 41:50Gen 42:13Gen 42:32Gen 42:37Gen 44:27Gen 46:27Gen 48:1Gen 48:5Gen 49:28Exo 4:9Exo 12:7Exo 12:22Exo 18:6Exo 22:4(3)
Root family
Word studysheh-NA-yimadj

What shenayim means

two: the cardinal number that counts a set of exactly two

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is simply the Hebrew word for the number two, by far the most common number word in the Old Testament after one. It counts two of anything: two animals, two stones, two sons, two years. In its plain use it works exactly like the English "two", and most of its hundreds of occurrences need no more explanation than that.

The interest lies in a handful of fixed expressions that grow naturally out of the bare count. Joined to a personal ending, it becomes "the two of them" or simply "both", drawing two people together as a single pair ("the two of them walked on together"). It names a matched set as "a pair", as in two turtledoves brought for an offering. Doubled, it gives the distributive "two by two", the picture of the animals filing into the ark. And it can mark a portion rather than a tally: "two parts" of something, which in practice means a double or larger share, as with the firstborn's inheritance or a double measure of a prophet's spirit.

These are not separate words, only the everyday flexibility of a number. A reader meets the same word each time; only the surrounding phrase decides whether it is counting, pairing, or measuring.

Nuances

1atwo, as a plain count of items, people, or units
Gen 1:16Gen 4:19Gen 5:8Gen 6:19Gen 6:20Gen 7:2Gen 17:20Gen 25:16Gen 35:22Gen 42:13Exo 25:18 (2×)1Ki 7:15
1bboth, the two of them: the number joined to a personal ending to gather two people as one pair
Gen 2:25Gen 3:7Gen 9:23Gen 21:27Gen 21:31Gen 22:6Gen 22:8Gen 27:45Gen 31:37Exo 22:9(8)Rut 1:191Sa 20:42
1ca pair: two of a single matched kind taken together
Lev 5:7Lev 12:8Num 28:9
1dtwo by two: the number doubled to mean two at a time, in pairs
Gen 7:9 (2×)Gen 7:15 (2×)1Ch 26:17
1etwo parts, a double share: the number used of a portion rather than a tally
Exo 22:4(3)Exo 22:7(6)Exo 22:9(8)Deu 21:171Ki 3:252Ki 2:92Ki 2:12Jer 34:18Zec 13:8

What scholars say about shenayim

The lexica treat H8147 as the ordinary cardinal numeral "two" (masculine שְׁנַיִם, feminine שְׁתַּיִם), inflected as a dual and standing in absolute or construct, with no semantic dispute. HALOT and BDB record the same range of idiomatic extensions noted here: the suffixed construct forms (שְׁנֵיהֶם and the like) functioning as "both, the two of them"; the distributive reduplication שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם "two by two" (Gen 7:9, 15); and the partitive "two parts" used for a double or major share (Deut 21:17; 2 Kgs 2:9; Zech 13:8). DCH catalogues the full form inventory without proposing distinct lexemes.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. שְׁנַיִםlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. שְׁנַיִםlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. שְׁנַיִםlexicon

All attested forms of שְׁנַיִם

c d absolute

שְׁנַיִם, שְׁנֵים, שְׁנָיִם, שְּׁנֵים, שְּׁנַיִם

Gen 6:19, Gen 6:20, Gen 7:2, Gen 7:9, Gen 7:9, Gen 7:15, Gen 7:15, Gen 44:27

c d construct

שְׁנֵי, שְּׁנֵי

Gen 1:16, Gen 10:25, Gen 19:1, Gen 22:3, Gen 25:23, Gen 27:9, Gen 34:25, Gen 40:2

conj

שְׁנֵי, שְׁנָיִם, שְׁתֵּי, שְׁתַּיִם, שְׁנַיִם, שְׁנֵים, שְּׁנֵי, שְׁתֵּים, שְּׁנַיִם, שְׁתָּיִם

Gen 9:22, Gen 24:22, Gen 25:23, Gen 32:7, Gen 32:10, Exo 4:9, Exo 18:6, Exo 26:19

f d construct

שְׁתֵּי, שְּׁתֵי

Gen 4:19, Gen 19:8, Gen 19:15, Gen 19:16, Gen 19:36, Gen 29:16, Gen 31:33, Gen 32:22

f d absolute

שְׁתַּיִם, שְׁתֵּים, שְׁתָּיִם

Gen 5:18, Gen 5:20, Gen 5:26, Gen 5:28, Gen 11:20, Lev 23:17, Lev 24:6, Jos 15:60

c d construct

שְׁנֵיהֶם

Gen 2:25, Gen 3:7, Gen 9:23, Gen 21:27, Gen 21:31, Gen 22:6, Gen 22:8, Gen 40:5

c d construct

שְׁנֵינוּ

Gen 31:37, 1Sa 20:42, Job 9:33

f d construct

שְׁתֵּיהֶם

Rut 1:19, Rut 4:11

c d construct

שְׁנֵיכֶם

Gen 27:45

f d construct

שְׁתֵּיהֶן

1Sa 25:43