שָׁבַת
sha.vat
to cease
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of שָׁבַת (shavat): "To Cease" The Hebrew verb שָׁבַת (shavat) carries the fundamental meaning "to cease" or "to stop," appearing 69 times throughout the biblical text. This relatively frequent occurrence indicates its importance in describing the cessation of action or activity. The word functions as a straightforward verb denoting the termination of an ongoing process, whether that involves work, motion, conflict, or any other continuous state. The significance of this term extends beyond simple description of stopping. With 69 biblical occurrences, the word appears substantial enough to carry theological weight in various contexts—from describing rest after labor to the cessation of divine judgment or human opposition. The term's prevalence suggests it was foundational to Hebrew thought about endings, pauses, and transitions from one state to another. Without additional context data showing specific passages or usage patterns, the core meaning remains consistent: shavat denotes the concrete action of ceasing or stopping. Its frequency in biblical literature indicates ancient Hebrew speakers and writers relied on this verb as a primary way to express discontinuation, making it a central concept in narratives involving both ordinary cessation and significant turning points in biblical accounts.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
69 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see, until we come in among them and kill them, and cause the work to cease.”
2 Chronicles 36:21to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Nehemiah 6:3I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?”
Job 32:1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
Psalms 8:2From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
Psalms 46:9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
Psalms 89:44You have ended his splendor, and thrown his throne down to the ground.
Psalms 119:119You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross. Therefore I love your testimonies.
Proverbs 18:18The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.
Proverbs 22:10Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop.
Isaiah 13:11I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the arrogance of the terrible.
Isaiah 14:4that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
Isaiah 14:4that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
Isaiah 16:10Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop.
Isaiah 17:3The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Isaiah 21:2A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media’s sighing.
Isaiah 24:8The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases.
Isaiah 24:8The mirth of tambourines ceases. The sound of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases.
Isaiah 30:11Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
Isaiah 33:8The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man.
Jeremiah 7:34Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”
Jeremiah 16:9For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
Jeremiah 31:36“If these ordinances depart from before me,” says Yahweh, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
Jeremiah 36:29Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Yahweh says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written therein, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal?’ ” ’
Jeremiah 48:33Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses. No one will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting.
Jeremiah 48:35Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” says Yahweh, “him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods.
Lamentations 5:14The elders have ceased from the gate, and the young men from their music.
Lamentations 5:15The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance is turned into mourning.
Ezekiel 26:13I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won’t be heard any more.
Ezekiel 6:6In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
Ezekiel 7:24Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease. Their holy places will be profaned.
Ezekiel 12:23Tell them therefore, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will make this proverb to cease, and they will no more use it as a proverb in Israel;” ’ but tell them, ‘ “The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.
Ezekiel 16:41They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more.
Ezekiel 23:27Thus I will make your lewdness to cease from you, and remove your prostitution from the land of Egypt; so that you will not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.’
Ezekiel 23:48“ ‘Thus I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to be lewd like you.
Ezekiel 30:10“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
Ezekiel 30:13“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis. There will be no more a prince from the land of Egypt. I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
Ezekiel 30:18At Tehaphnehes also the day will withdraw itself, when I break the yokes of Egypt, there. The pride of her power will cease in her. As for her, a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.
Ezekiel 33:28I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through.
Ezekiel 34:10The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”
Ezekiel 34:25“ ‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
Daniel 9:27He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
Daniel 11:18After this he will turn his face to the islands, and will take many; but a prince will cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Yes, moreover, he will cause his reproach to turn on him.
Hosea 1:4Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.
Hosea 2:11I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
Hosea 7:4They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.
Amos 8:4Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
Genesis 2:2On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
Genesis 2:3God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.
Genesis 8:22While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”