StrongerBible

shatah

שָׁתָה

HebrewH8354drink, feast, ...

Appears 217 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 9:21Gen 24:14Gen 24:18Gen 24:19Gen 24:22Gen 24:44Gen 24:46Gen 24:54Gen 25:34Gen 26:30Gen 27:25Gen 30:38 (2×)Gen 43:34Gen 44:5Exo 7:18Exo 7:21Exo 7:24 (2×)Exo 15:23Exo 15:24Exo 17:1Exo 24:11Exo 32:6Exo 34:28Num 6:3 (2×)Num 6:20Num 20:5Num 20:17Num 20:19Num 21:22Num 23:24Num 33:14Deu 9:9Deu 9:18Deu 28:39Deu 32:14Deu 32:38Jdg 7:5Jdg 7:6Jdg 9:27Jdg 15:19Jdg 19:4Jdg 19:6Jdg 19:21Rut 3:3Rut 3:71Sa 1:91Sa 1:151Sa 30:121Sa 30:162Sa 11:11
Root family
Word studyshah-TAHverb

What shatah means

to drink: to take liquid in through the mouth

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary Hebrew word for drinking, the everyday counterpart of eating. Most of its uses are plainly literal: people and animals drink water, wine, milk, or whatever is at hand, and a thirsty person who cannot find water is in real danger. Because food and drink belong together, the word constantly pairs with eating, and that pairing slides easily into the larger idea of sitting down to a meal or a celebration.

From there the same word reaches into the world of feasting. A wedding, a homecoming, a treaty, or a royal court is described as people eating and drinking, and the heavier end of that range shades into carousing and drunkenness, where the drinking itself is the point and the occasion is one of excess.

The prophets and poets then take this concrete act and turn it into a vivid picture of receiving what is handed to you. To drink the cup is to take in full measure of whatever the cup holds, most often God's anger and judgment, but also reeling confusion, suffering, or even the violence and wrongdoing a wicked person swallows as readily as water. The act is the same throughout, taking something in through the mouth; what changes is what is being taken in and why.

Nuances

1ato drink water, wine, or other liquid
Gen 24:14Gen 24:18Gen 24:19Gen 24:22Gen 24:44Gen 24:46Gen 30:38 (2×)Exo 7:18Exo 7:21Exo 7:24 (2×)Exo 15:23Exo 15:24
1bto take part in a meal or celebration, to feast (often paired with eating); at the heavy end, to carouse and get drunk
Gen 24:54Gen 25:34Gen 26:30Gen 27:25Gen 43:34Exo 24:11Exo 32:6Jdg 9:27Jdg 19:4Jdg 19:6Jdg 19:211Sa 30:16
1cto drink the cup that is handed to you: to take in full measure of judgment, wrath, or suffering
Job 21:20Psa 75:8(9)Isa 51:17Isa 51:22Jer 25:16Jer 25:26Jer 25:27Jer 25:28 (2×)Jer 49:12 (4×)Jer 51:7Oba 1:16Hab 2:16
1dto swallow down wrongdoing as readily as drinking: to be steeped in violence or evil
Job 15:16Job 34:7Pro 4:17Pro 26:6

What scholars say about shatah

The standard lexica treat the word as a single verb meaning "to drink," with the literal sense dominant and recognized extensions into feasting and into the figurative drinking of a cup of wrath. HALOT and BDB list the literal use of water and wine, the idiom of eating and drinking for sharing a meal, and the prophetic cup imagery. DCH catalogues the same range across the corpus. TDOT's treatment of the eating-and-drinking word pair discusses how the act of drinking carries social and covenantal weight at shared meals, and the cup-of-wrath motif is widely discussed in the critical commentaries on Jeremiah, Isaiah, and the Psalms.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. שׁתהlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. שׁתהlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. שׁתהlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. אכל (eating and drinking)dictionary

All attested forms of שָׁתָה

qal infinitive-construct construct

שְׁתּוֹת, שְׁתּוֹתָ, שְׁתֹּת, שְׁתוֹת, שְׁתוֹ

Gen 24:22, Gen 30:38, Gen 30:38, Exo 7:18, Exo 7:21, Exo 7:24, Num 20:5, Num 33:14

qal imperfect 3mp

יִשְׁתּוּ, יִשְׁתֻּ, יִשְׁתָּיוּ

Deu 32:38, Psa 75:8, Pro 4:17, Isa 24:9, Isa 62:8, Isa 65:13, Jer 49:12, Ezk 4:16

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיִּשְׁתּוּ

Gen 24:54, Gen 26:30, Gen 43:34, Exo 24:11, Jdg 9:27, Jdg 19:4, Jdg 19:6, Jdg 19:21

qal imperfect 3ms

יִשְׁתֶּה

Gen 44:5, Num 6:3, Num 6:3, Num 6:20, Num 23:24, 1Ki 17:6, Job 21:20, Job 34:7

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיֵּשְׁתְּ, וַיִּשְׁתֶּה

Gen 9:21, Gen 25:34, Gen 27:25, Jdg 15:19, Rut 3:7, 2Sa 11:13, 1Ki 13:19, 1Ki 19:6

qal imperfect 2ms

תִּשְׁתֶּה

Deu 28:39, Deu 32:14, 1Ki 13:9, 1Ki 13:17, 1Ki 17:4, Jer 49:12, Ezk 4:11, Ezk 4:11

qal imperative 2ms

שְׁתֵה, שֲׁתֵה

Gen 24:14, Gen 24:18, Gen 24:44, Gen 24:46, 1Ki 18:41, Pro 5:15, Pro 23:7, Hab 2:16

qal infinitive-absolute absolute

שָׁתוֹ, שָׁתֹה, שָׁתוֹת

Exo 32:6, Isa 22:13, Jer 25:28, Jer 49:12, Hag 1:6, 1Sa 1:9, Isa 21:5, Jer 49:12

qal participle m p absolute

שֹׁתִים, שֹּׁתִים, וְשׁוֹתִים

1Sa 30:16, 1Ki 1:25, 1Ki 4:20, Job 1:13, Job 1:18, Amo 6:6, Zec 7:6, 1Ch 12:39

qal imperative 2mp

שְׁתוּ

2Ki 18:31, Neh 8:10, Pro 9:5, Sng 5:1, Isa 36:16, Jer 25:27, Jer 35:5

qal imperfect 2mp

תִּשְׁתּוּ

Jer 25:28, Jer 35:6, Ezk 34:18, Ezk 39:18, Amo 5:11, Zec 7:6

qal participle m s absolute

שֹׁתֶה

1Ki 16:9, 1Ki 20:12, 1Ki 20:16, Job 15:16, Pro 26:6, Isa 29:8

qal perfect 1cs

שָׁתִיתִי

Deu 9:9, Deu 9:18, 1Sa 1:15, 2Ki 19:24, Sng 5:1, Isa 37:25

qal imperfect 1cp

נִשְׁתֶּה, נִּשְׁתֶּה

Num 20:17, Num 20:19, Num 21:22, Jer 35:6, Exo 15:24

qal imperfect 1cs

אֶשְׁתֶּה

2Sa 19:35, 1Ki 13:8, 1Ki 13:16, 1Ch 11:19, Psa 50:13

qal participle m p construct

שֹׁתֵי, שׁוֹתֵי, שֹׁתָי

Ezk 31:14, Ezk 31:16, Jol 1:5, Psa 69:12, Isa 24:9

qal perfect 3ms

שָׁתָה

Exo 34:28, 1Sa 30:12, Ezr 10:6, Isa 44:12, Jer 22:15

qal consecutive-perfect 2mp

וּשְׁתִיתֶם

Deu 2:6, 2Ki 3:17, Ezk 39:17, Ezk 39:19

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְשָׁתוּ

Jer 25:16, Amo 9:14, Oba 1:16, Zec 9:15

qal conjunctive-imperfect 1cp

וְנִשְׁתֶּה

Exo 17:2, Dan 1:12, Amo 4:1

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְשָׁתָה

Exo 17:6, Ecc 2:24, Ecc 3:13

qal conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאֶשְׁתֶּה

Gen 24:14, 1Ki 17:10

qal consecutive-perfect 2fs

וְשָׁתִית

Rut 2:9, Ezk 23:34

qal imperfect 3fs

תִּשְׁתֶּה

Deu 11:11, 2Sa 12:3

qal jussive 2fs

תִּשְׁתִּי

Jdg 13:4, Jdg 13:7

qal jussive 2ms

תֵּשְׁתְּ

Lev 10:9, 1Ki 13:22

qal perfect 2fs

שָׁתִית

Isa 51:17, Isa 51:17

qal perfect 2mp

שְׁתִיתֶם

Deu 29:6, Oba 1:16

qal perfect 3cp

שָׁתוּ

Jer 35:14, Jer 51:7

niphal imperfect 3ms

יִשָּׁתֶה

Lev 11:34

qal conjunctive-imperfect 3mp

וְיִשְׁתּוּ

2Ki 6:22

qal consecutive-imperfect 1cs

וָאֵשְׁתְּ

Gen 24:46

qal consecutive-imperfect 2ms

וַתֵּשְׁתְּ

1Ki 13:22

qal consecutive-imperfect 3fs

וַתֵּשְׁתְּ

Num 20:11

qal consecutive-perfect 1cs

וְשָׁתִיתִי

Deu 2:28

qal imperfect 2fs

תִּשְׁתִּי

Ezk 23:32

qal imperfect 3fp

תִּשְׁתֶּינָה

Ezk 34:19

qal jussive 2mp

תִּשְׁתּוּ

Est 4:16

qal jussive 3fs

תֵּשְׁתְּ

Jdg 13:14

qal jussive 3mp

יִשְׁתּוּ

Jon 3:7

3 further parsings are listed under Syntax.