שֶׁ֫לֶט

# Šelet (Shield) in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *šelet* (H7982) designates a shield, a defensive weapon used in ancient warfare. With seven occurrences throughout the biblical text, it represents one of several Hebrew terms for protective equipment, though it appears with relatively modest frequency compared to other military vocabulary. The consistent translation across these instances suggests a stable, well-understood referent in the material culture of ancient Israel. The limited number of occurrences—only seven instances across the entire Hebrew Bible—indicates that *šelet* occupied a specific rather than dominant place in biblical military terminology. While shields were essential components of ancient Near Eastern warfare and defense, the biblical writers had multiple words available to describe protective gear, suggesting that *šelet* may have referred to a particular type or style of shield, or that other terms were simply preferred in the contexts where shields were discussed. Without access to the specific passages where *šelet* appears, the precise contexts and distinctions from related terms remain defined by the data provided here: it is fundamentally a shield, employed in ancient Israelite military and defensive contexts.