Bible word study

Shabath (Strong’s H7673): Meaning in the Bible

Shabath (שָׁבַת) is the Hebrew word numbered H7673 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific). In the King James Bible it is translated (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail.

• Original wordשָׁבַת
• Transliterationshâbath
• Pronunciationshaw-bath'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH7673
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Shabath appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Shabath (H7673) stands behind 73 English renderings in 67 verses across 19 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Ezekiel (13), Isaiah (10), Exodus (7).

How the King James Bible renders Shabath, by count

• cease37 of 73 (51 percent)
• rest7 of 73 (10 percent)
• ceased6 of 73 (8 percent)
• ceaseth4 of 73 (5 percent)
• rested4 of 73 (5 percent)
• away3 of 73 (4 percent)

Three places to read Shabath

• Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
• 2 Chronicles 36:21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
• Jeremiah 48:33 And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Shabath in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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