שְׁלִישִׁי
she.li.shi
third
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# שְׁלִישִׁי (Sheliski): The Third The Hebrew word *sheliski* functions as an ordinal numeral meaning "third." As a member of the standard ordinal number system in biblical Hebrew, it denotes position or sequence in a series, indicating something that comes after two others. With 107 occurrences across the biblical text, the word appears with sufficient frequency to suggest its regular use in recording chronological sequences, structural divisions, and narrative progressions throughout Scripture. The prevalence of this term—appearing over 100 times—indicates that precise sequential ordering was important in biblical narratives and legal/administrative contexts. The word would have been employed whenever writers needed to specify the third day, the third person, the third gate, the third plague, or any other third element in a series. Its frequency reflects the practical necessity of maintaining clear order in historical accounts, genealogies, temple descriptions, and other materials requiring numbered classifications. Beyond its basic mathematical function, the consistent use of ordinal numerals like *sheliski* in biblical composition demonstrates that ancient Hebrew writers valued explicitness about sequence and position. Rather than relying on contextual inference alone, they regularly employed standardized numerical terminology to guide readers through complex narratives and detailed prescriptive passages—a linguistic convention reflecting careful, organized communication.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
107 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
This is the thing that you must do. A third part of you, who come in on the Sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be gatekeepers of the thresholds.
2 Chronicles 23:5A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of Yahweh’s house.
2 Chronicles 23:5A third part shall be at the king’s house; and a third part at the gate of the foundation. All the people will be in the courts of Yahweh’s house.
2 Chronicles 27:5He also fought with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. The children of Ammon gave him the same year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. The children of Ammon also gave that much to him in the second year, and in the third.
2 Chronicles 31:7In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.
Nehemiah 10:32Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;
Esther 5:1Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, next to the king’s house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, next to the entrance of the house.
Esther 8:9Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the local governors, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language.
Job 42:14He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch.
Isaiah 15:5My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
Isaiah 19:24In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing within the earth;
Isaiah 37:30“ ‘This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from it; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
Jeremiah 38:14Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in Yahweh’s house. Then the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
Ezekiel 5:12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
Jeremiah 48:34From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate.
Ezekiel 5:2A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Ezekiel 5:2A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Ezekiel 5:2A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Ezekiel 5:12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
Ezekiel 5:12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
Ezekiel 10:14Every one them had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was the face of a lion. The fourth was the face of an eagle.
Ezekiel 21:14“You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together. Let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the fatally wounded. It is the sword of the great one who is fatally wounded, which enters into their rooms.
1 Samuel 17:13The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
Ezekiel 31:1In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
Ezekiel 46:14You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance.
Ezekiel 42:3Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third floor.
Hosea 6:2After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.
Zechariah 6:3in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful.
Zechariah 13:8It shall happen that in all the land,” says Yahweh, “two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it.
Zechariah 13:9I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’ ”
1 Chronicles 3:2the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;
Genesis 1:13There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Genesis 2:14The name of the third river is Hiddekel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Genesis 6:16You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.
Genesis 22:4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off.
Genesis 31:22Laban was told on the third day that Jacob had fled.
Genesis 32:19He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.
Genesis 34:25On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
Genesis 40:20On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
Genesis 42:18Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
Exodus 19:1In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
Exodus 19:11and be ready for the third day; for on the third day Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
Exodus 19:11and be ready for the third day; for on the third day Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
Exodus 19:16On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Exodus 28:19and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
Exodus 39:12and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
Leviticus 7:17but what remains of the meat of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire.
Leviticus 7:18If any of the meat of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, and it shall not be credited to him who offers it. It will be an abomination, and the soul who eats any of it will bear his iniquity.
Leviticus 19:6It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. If anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned with fire.
Leviticus 19:7If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It will not be accepted;