Midvash

שֵׁבֶטshêbeṭ

a scion, i.e. (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan

Pronunciation: shay'-bet · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H7626

Meanings

1. rod, staff, club, sceptre

2. tribe

1.

a. rod, staff, (evidently common article) (Exodus 21:20; Micah 4:14; Isaiah 10:15)

b. shaft, i.e. spear, dart (2 Samuel 18:14)

c. club, shepherd's implement (Psalms 23:4; Micah 7:14; Ezekiel 20:37)

d. truncheon, sceptre, mark of authority (Judges 5:14; Isaiah 14:5; Genesis 49:10)

2. tribe, synonymמַטֶּה, q. v. 3, p. 641: b

a. of (12) tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:16; Genesis 49:28; Deuteronomy 33:5)

b. singular of people (Psalms 74:2; Jeremiah 10:16; Jeremiah 51:19)

c. of subdivision of tribe (Numbers 4:18; 2 Samuel 7:7; 2 Samuel 7:11)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 190 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.
  • Genesis 49:16 “Dan will govern his people, like any other tribe in Israel.
  • Genesis 49:28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.
  • Exodus 21:20 “If a man beats his male or female slave with a club and the slave dies as a result, the owner must be punished.
  • Exodus 24:4 Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s instructions. Early the next morning Moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
  • Exodus 28:21 Each stone will represent one of the twelve sons of Israel, and the name of that tribe will be engraved on it like a seal.
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).