StrongerBible

shaphakh

שָׁפַךְ

HebrewH8210pour out, shed, ...

Appears 115 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 9:6 (2×)Gen 37:22Exo 4:9Exo 29:12Lev 4:7Lev 4:18Lev 4:25Lev 4:30Lev 4:34Lev 14:41Lev 17:4Lev 17:13Num 35:33 (2×)Deu 12:16Deu 12:24Deu 12:27Deu 15:23Deu 19:10Deu 21:7Jdg 6:201Sa 1:151Sa 7:61Sa 25:312Sa 20:102Sa 20:151Ki 2:311Ki 13:31Ki 13:51Ki 18:282Ki 19:322Ki 21:162Ki 24:41Ch 22:8 (2×)1Ch 28:3Job 12:21Job 16:13Job 30:16Psa 22:14(15)Psa 42:4(5)Psa 62:8(9)Psa 69:24(25)Psa 73:2Psa 79:3Psa 79:6Psa 79:10Psa 102:0(1)Psa 106:38Psa 107:40Psa 142:2(3)Pro 1:16
Root family
Word studysha-FAKHverb

What shaphakh means

1

to pour out: to make a liquid (or, by extension, earth) flow out of where it was held

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

The plain picture behind this word is tipping a container and letting its contents run out: water emptied on the ground, blood drained at the base of the altar, a drink offering poured before God. Because the action is so vivid, the Bible reaches for it again and again to describe things that are not liquids at all.

When God is the one pouring, the object is his anger or his Spirit. To pour out wrath is to release it fully and unrestrained, the way a tipped jar empties all at once rather than a trickle, and nothing is held back. The same full outpouring turns to blessing when God pours out his Spirit on all people, lavishing it without measure.

When a worshiper is the one pouring, the object is often the self: the heart, the soul, the complaint. To pour out the heart before God is to hold nothing inside, to lay the whole inner life open in prayer. The same verb that empties a vessel describes a person emptied of everything kept private, and even scorn can be poured out, disdain heaped over someone like a spilled liquid.

One further use keeps the literal flavor but turns it to dry material: to pour out earth and rubble against a city wall, heaping up the ramp an army builds to mount a siege. Here the pouring is of soil rather than water, but the motion is the same.

Nuances

1ato pour out a liquid: water, drink offerings, or ashes emptied on the ground
Exo 4:9Lev 14:41Jdg 6:201Sa 7:62Sa 20:101Ki 13:31Ki 13:51Ki 18:28Job 16:13Isa 57:6Amo 5:8Amo 9:6
1bto pour out blood at the altar: draining a sacrifice's blood at the altar's base as part of worship
Exo 29:12Lev 4:7Lev 4:18Lev 4:25Lev 4:30Lev 4:34Lev 17:13Deu 12:16Deu 12:24Deu 12:27Deu 15:23
1cto pour out wrath: God releasing his anger fully and without restraint
Psa 69:24(25)Psa 79:6Jer 10:25Ezk 7:8Ezk 14:19Ezk 20:8Ezk 20:13Ezk 20:21Ezk 21:31(36)Ezk 22:22Ezk 22:31Ezk 30:15
1fto pour out the Spirit: God lavishing his Spirit fully on his people, the same unrestrained outpouring turned to blessing
Ezk 39:29Jol 2:28(3:1)Jol 2:29(3:2)Zec 12:10
1dto pour out the heart or soul: to lay one's whole inner life open before God in prayer
1Sa 1:15Job 30:16Psa 22:14(15)Psa 42:4(5)Psa 62:8(9)Psa 102:0(1)Psa 142:2(3)Lam 2:11Lam 2:12Lam 2:19
1eto heap up a siege ramp: to pour out earth and rubble against a city wall to mount an assault
2Sa 20:152Ki 19:32Isa 37:33Jer 6:6Ezk 4:2Ezk 17:17Ezk 21:22(27)Ezk 26:8Dan 11:15
1gto pour out contempt: to heap scorn on someone, emptying disdain over them as one tips out a liquid
Job 12:21Psa 107:40
2

to shed blood: to kill, to take a human life unlawfully

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

When the thing poured out is human blood and the act is violence, the word means to kill. This is its most weighty use. The picture of blood spilling on the ground stands for a life taken, and the phrase shed blood becomes the standard biblical way of naming murder and bloodguilt.

The verb often appears in this sense as a settled idiom: the one who sheds blood is a killer, and shed blood is a charge that demands a reckoning. Whole legal and prophetic passages turn on it, from the law that requires a life for a life to the prophets' indictment of a city full of violence.

The shedding of blood that goes unanswered pollutes the land itself, so the word also carries the weight of guilt that must be dealt with, not merely an act that has happened.

Gen 9:6 (2×)Gen 37:22Num 35:33 (2×)Deu 19:10Deu 21:71Sa 25:311Ki 2:312Ki 21:162Ki 24:41Ch 22:8 (2×)1Ch 28:3Psa 79:3

Uncategorized

Awaiting AI sense categorization.

4 verses
Psa 73:2Ezk 16:15Ezk 16:36Ezk 23:8

What scholars say about shaphakh

Standard lexica treat this as a single verb whose root sense is to pour out, from which the figurative uses (pouring out wrath, pouring out the self in prayer) and the technical use for heaping up a siege ramp all extend. The killing sense, to shed blood, is so frequent and so fixed an idiom that it is normally listed as a distinct meaning, especially in the law of bloodguilt and the prophetic indictments of violence.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. שׁפךlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. שׁפךlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. שׁפךlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. שׁפך (šāpak)theological-dictionary

All attested forms of שָׁפַךְ

qal infinitive-construct construct

שְׁפֹּךְ, שְׁפָךְ, שְׁפָּךְ, שְׁפּוֹךְ, שְׁפֹךְ, שָׁפְכְּ

Isa 59:7, Ezk 17:17, Ezk 20:8, Ezk 20:13, Ezk 20:21, Ezk 21:22, Zep 3:8, 1Ki 18:28

qal imperfect 3ms

יִשְׁפֹּךְ

Lev 4:7, Lev 4:18, Lev 4:25, Lev 4:30, Lev 4:34, 2Ki 19:32, Job 16:13, Psa 102:0

qal perfect 3ms

שָׁפַךְ, שָׁפָךְ

1Ki 2:31, 2Ki 21:16, Lam 2:4, Lam 4:11, Lev 17:4, 2Ki 24:4

qal consecutive-perfect 1cs

וְשָׁפַכְתִּי

Jer 14:16, Ezk 14:19, Ezk 21:31, Ezk 30:15, Zec 12:10

qal imperfect 1cs

אֶשְׁפּוֹךְ, אֶשְׁפֹּךְ

Ezk 7:8, Hos 5:10, Jol 2:28, Jol 2:29, Psa 142:2

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיִּשְׁפְּכוּ

1Sa 7:6, 2Sa 20:15, Psa 106:38, Ezk 23:8

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּשְׁפְּכֵ, וַיִּשְׁפֹּךְ

Amo 5:8, Amo 9:6, 2Sa 20:10, Isa 42:25

qal imperative 2ms

שְׁפֹךְ, שְׁפוֹךְ, שְׁפָךְ

Psa 79:6, Jer 10:25, Jdg 6:20, Psa 69:24

qal imperfect 2ms

תִּשְׁפְּכֶ, תִּשְׁפֹּךְ

Deu 12:16, Deu 12:24, Deu 15:23, Exo 29:12

qal perfect 3cp

שָׁפְכוּ

Deu 21:7, Psa 79:3, Ezk 36:18, Jol 3:19

niphal imperfect 3ms

יִשָּׁפֵךְ

Gen 9:6, Deu 12:27, Deu 19:10

qal consecutive-imperfect 1cs

וָאֶשְׁפֹּךְ

1Sa 1:15, Ezk 22:31, Ezk 36:18

qal jussive 2mp

תִּשְׁפְּכוּ

Gen 37:22, Jer 7:6, Jer 22:3

qal participle m s construct

שֹׁפֵךְ, שֹׁפְכ

Gen 9:6, Ezk 18:10, Num 35:33

qal perfect 2ms

שָׁפַכְתָּ, שָׁפָכְתָּ

1Ch 22:8, 1Ch 22:8, 1Ch 28:3

qal consecutive-perfect 2ms

וְשָׁפַכְתָּ

Exo 4:9, Ezk 4:2

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְשָׁפַךְ

Lev 17:13, Ezk 26:8

qal imperative 2mp

שִׁפְכוּ

Psa 62:8, Jer 6:6

qal participle f p construct

שֹׁפְכוֹת, שֹׁפְכֹת

Ezk 23:45, Ezk 16:38

qal participle m s absolute

שׁוֹפֵךְ, שֹׁפֵךְ

Job 12:21, Psa 107:40

qal passive-participle f s absolute

שְׁפוּכָה

Ezk 20:33, Ezk 20:34

qal perfect 1cs

שָׁפַכְתִּי

Ezk 22:22, Ezk 39:29

qal perfect 2fs

שָׁפַכְתְּ

Isa 57:6, Ezk 22:4

hithpael imperfect 3fp

תִּשְׁתַּפֵּכְנָה

Lam 4:1

hithpael imperfect 3fs

תִּשְׁתַּפֵּךְ

Job 30:16

hithpael infinitive-construct construct

הִשְׁתַּפֵּךְ

Lam 2:12

niphal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּשָּׁפֵךְ

1Ki 13:5

niphal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְנִשְׁפַּךְ

1Ki 13:3

niphal infinitive-construct construct

הִשָּׁפֵךְ

Ezk 16:36

niphal perfect 1cs

נִשְׁפַּכְתִּי

Psa 22:14

niphal perfect 3ms

נִשְׁפַּךְ

Lam 2:11

pual consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְשֻׁפַּךְ

Zep 1:17

pual perfect 3cp

שֻׁפְּכוּ

Psa 73:2

pual perfect 3ms

שֻׁפַּךְ

Num 35:33

qal cohortative 1cs

אֶשְׁפְּכָה

Psa 42:4

qal conjunctive-imperfect 3ms

וְיִשְׁפֹּךְ

Dan 11:15

qal consecutive-imperfect 2fs

וַתִּשְׁפְּכִי

Ezk 16:15

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְשָׁפְכוּ

Lev 14:41

qal imperative 2fs

שִׁפְכִי

Lam 2:19

qal imperfect 2mp

תִּשְׁפֹּכוּ

Ezk 33:25

5 further parsings are listed under Syntax.