Senses
1. ear/head of grain — The noun shibboleth II designating an ear or head of grain, the mature seed-bearing tip of cereal plants such as wheat or barley. This term appears prominently in Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream (Gen 41) where seven fat ears and seven thin ears symbolize years of plenty and famine, and in Ruth 2:2 referring to gleaning. All three sense clusters represent the same concrete agricultural meaning in different grammatical numbers and constructs: plural with article (13x), singular (1x), and plural construct (1x). Multilingual translations consistently confirm a single referent: Spanish 'espigas/espiga,' Arabic 'sunbulat/sanabil,' Hindi 'balen/bali/baliyan,' Korean 'isak,' Swahili 'masuke/nafaka/mashuke.' The variation is purely morphosyntactic, not semantic. 15×
AR["الْ-سُّنْبُلَاتُ","الْ-سُّنْبُلَاتِ","سَنَابِلَ","سَنَابِلُ","سُنْبُلَاتٍ","سُنْبُلَةٍ"]·ben["শস্যের","শীষ","শীষগুলি","শীষের","শীষের-মধ্যে"]·DE["[בשבלים]","[שבלי]","[שבלים]","[שבלת]","die-Ähren","Ähren"]·EN["among-the-ears-of-grain","clusters-of","ear-of-grain","ears-of-grain","heads-of-grain","the-heads-of-grain"]·FR["[שבלים]","le-têtes-de-grain","parmi-le-oreilles-de-grain","têtes-de-grain","épi","שבלת"]·heb["ב-שיבולים","ה-שבלים","ה-שבלים","שבלים","שיבולים","שיבולת","שיבלי"]·HI["बालियां","बाली","बालें","बालों","बालों-ने","बालों-में"]·ID["bulir-bulir","bulir-bulir-gandum-itu","bulir-gandum","di-antara-bulir-bulir","tangkai"]·IT["[שבלי]","[שבלים]","capi-di-grain","fra-il-orecchie-di-grano","il-capi-di-grain","orecchio-di-grain"]·jav["gandum","ing-wos","uwoh","winih","wulèn-gandum","wulèn-gandum-punika"]·KO["그-이삭들은","그-이삭들을","그-이삭들이","에-이삭들","이삭들을","이삭들이","이삭의"]·PT["as-espigas","de-espiga","entre-as-espigas","espigas","espigas-de"]·RU["ветви","колоса","колосьев","колосья","среди-колосьев"]·ES["entre-las-espigas","espigas","espigas-de","la-espiga","las-espigas"]·SW["mashuke-ya","masuke","nafaka","wa-masuke"]·TR["-başak","-başaklar","-başaklardan","-başakları","basaki","basaklari","başak","başakları-","başağın"]·urd["بالی","بالیوں","بالیوں-میں-سے","بالیوں-نے","بالیں","بالیں-نے","بالیں-وہ","سنبلیں"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† II. שִׁבֹּ֫לֶת n.f. ear of grain;—שׁ׳ abs. Jb 24:24 +; pl. שִׁבֳּלִים Gn 41:5 +, cstr. שִׁבֳּלֵי Zc 4:12;—ear, Gn 41:5, 6, 7(×2), 22, 23, 24(×2), 26, 27; Is 17:5(×2); Ru 2:2; Jb 24:24; transf. spike (Pusey), end of olive bough Zc 4:12.