שׁוֹר
shor
cattle
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Biblical Lexicon Analysis: שׁוֹר (shor) The Hebrew word *shor* (Strong's H7794) denotes cattle and appears 79 times throughout the biblical text. This frequency indicates that cattle held considerable importance in ancient Israelite life and discourse. The word's consistent translation as "cattle" suggests it functioned as a standard term for this class of domesticated animals in biblical Hebrew, making it a fundamental vocabulary item for understanding daily life and economic activity in the ancient Near East. The 79 occurrences of *shor* across the biblical corpus indicate that references to cattle pervaded multiple genres and contexts—from legal codes to narrative accounts to agricultural imagery. This distribution reflects cattle's central role in ancient Israelite society, whether as a measure of wealth, a source of labor for farming, a sacrificial animal in religious practice, or a food resource. The persistent use of this term demonstrates that cattle were woven throughout biblical life and thought in ways significant enough to warrant frequent mention and discussion. Without access to the specific contexts of each occurrence in the provided data, we can observe that *shor* served as the basic Hebrew vocabulary for cattle. Its sustained presence across 79 biblical references testifies to the economic, social, and religious significance of cattle in the world described by biblical texts.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
79 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I didn’t demand the governor’s pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people.
Job 6:5Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?
Job 21:10Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
Job 24:3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
Psalms 69:31It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
Psalms 106:20Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.
Proverbs 7:22He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose.
Proverbs 14:4Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
Proverbs 15:17Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.
Isaiah 1:3The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”
Isaiah 7:25All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”
Isaiah 32:20Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Isaiah 66:3He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
Ezekiel 1:10As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. The four of them had the face of a lion on the right side. The four of them had the face of an ox on the left side. The four of them also had the face of an eagle.
Hosea 12:11If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.
Genesis 32:5I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”
Genesis 49:6My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.
Exodus 20:17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Exodus 21:28“If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
Exodus 21:28“If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
Exodus 21:28“If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
Exodus 21:29But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
Exodus 21:29But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
Exodus 21:32If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
Exodus 21:32If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
Exodus 21:33“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
Exodus 21:35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
Exodus 21:35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
Exodus 21:35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
Exodus 21:36Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Exodus 21:36Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Exodus 21:36Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Exodus 22:1“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Exodus 22:1“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Exodus 22:4If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.
Exodus 22:9For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
Exodus 22:10“If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it;
Exodus 22:30You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days, then on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
Exodus 23:4“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
Exodus 23:12“Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant, and the alien may be refreshed.
Exodus 34:19“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
Leviticus 4:10as it is removed from the bull of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.
Leviticus 7:23“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘You shall eat no fat, of bull, or sheep, or goat.
Leviticus 9:4and a bull and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before Yahweh; and a meal offering mixed with oil: for today Yahweh appears to you.’ ”
Leviticus 9:18He also killed the bull and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people. Aaron’s sons delivered to him the blood, which he sprinkled around on the altar;
Leviticus 9:19and the fat of the bull and of the ram, the fat tail, and that which covers the innards, and the kidneys, and the cover of the liver;
Leviticus 17:3Whatever man there is of the house of Israel who kills a bull, or lamb, or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp,
Leviticus 22:23Either a bull or a lamb that has any deformity or lacking in his parts, that you may offer for a free will offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.
Leviticus 22:27“When a bull, a sheep, or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother. From the eighth day on it shall be accepted for the offering of an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
Leviticus 22:28Whether it is a cow or ewe, you shall not kill it and its young both in one day.