H8354 H8354
To drink, consume liquid; the basic act of drinking water, wine, or any beverage, including participial use for habitual drinkers.
Shatah is the standard Hebrew verb for drinking and appears across virtually every narrative and legal context where liquids are consumed. From Noah drinking wine after the flood (Gen 9:21) to Elijah drinking from the brook Cherith (1 Kgs 17:6), the word carries a satisfying physical concreteness. It pairs naturally with 'akal ('to eat') in the formulaic 'they ate and drank' that punctuates covenant meals, festivals, and acts of hospitality throughout the Old Testament. The participial form can become substantival — 'drinkers of wine' (Joel 1:5), 'drinkers of beer' (Isa 24:9) — naming a person by their characteristic activity. Spanish beber, Arabic shariba, Korean masida (마시다), and Swahili -nywa all map onto this verb with remarkable consistency, reflecting the universal simplicity of the act it names.
1. drink, consume liquid — The core verbal sense: to drink, consume a liquid. At 209 occurrences this covers all finite forms (perfect, imperfect, imperative, jussive, consecutive) and infinitives denoting the act of drinking water, wine, milk, or any beverage. Found in hospitality scenes (Gen 24:14, 'drink, and I will water your camels'), covenant meals (Gen 26:30, 'they ate and drank'), prophetic sign-acts (Ezek 4:11), and legal regulations (Num 6:3, the Nazirite shall not drink wine). The multilingual evidence is strikingly uniform: Spanish beber, French boire, German trinken, Arabic shariba, Korean masida (마시다), Swahili -nywa — all select the unmarked, basic 'consume liquid' verb, confirming this as a single undifferentiated core sense rather than multiple sub-senses. 209×
AR["أَنْ-يَشْرَبُوا","عَلَى-شُرْبِ","عَنْ-شُرْبِ","لِ-يَشْرَبوا","لِ-يَشْرَبَا","لِتَشْرَبَ","لِـ-تَشْرَبِي","لِـ-يَشْرَبَ","لِـ-يَشْرَبُوا","لِلشُّرْبِ","لِيَشرَبَ-","لِيَشْرَبَ","لِيَشْرَبُوا"]·ben["-পান-করতে","পান-করতে","পান-করার-জন্য"]·DE["trank","trinken","zu-trinke","zu-trinken"]·EN["to-drink"]·FR["boire","pour-boire","à-boire","à-bois"]·heb["ל-שתה","ל-שתוֹת","ל-שתות","לשתות"]·HI["के-लिए-पीना","पीने","पीने-के-लिए","पीने-को","पीने-से","भोजन-करने"]·ID["meminum","minum","untuk minum","untuk-diminum","untuk-minum"]·IT["a-bere","a-bevi","bere"]·jav["kangge-ngombe","kangge-ngunjuk","kanggé-ngunjuk","ngombe","supados-ngunjuk"]·KO["마시기-위한","마시기를","마시는-것-에","마시는-것이","마시도록","마시라고","마시러","마시려고","마실","에-마시기-위하여"]·PT["beber","para-beber"]·RU["для-питья","пить","чтобы-пить"]·ES["a-beber","beber","de-beber","para-beber"]·SW["kunywa"]·TR["içmek","içmek-için","içmek-için-","içmesi-için"]·urd["پینا","پینے","پینے-کو"]
Gen 9:21, Gen 24:54, Gen 25:34, Gen 26:30, Gen 27:25, Gen 30:38, Gen 30:38, Gen 43:34, Exod 7:18, Exod 7:21, Exod 7:24, Exod 7:24 (+38 more)
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
2. drinker, one who drinks — Substantival participle: drinker, one who drinks — 7 occurrences where the Qal participle functions as an agentive noun characterizing a person by their drinking. Joel 1:5 summons 'all drinkers of wine' to weep; Psalm 69:12 laments becoming the song of 'drinkers of strong drink'; Ezekiel 31:14, 16 speaks of trees among 'drinkers of water' (i.e., well-watered trees personified). Spanish bebedores, Korean masineun ja (마시는 자, 'one who drinks'), and Arabic sharibun all shift to nominal or participial-agentive forms, confirming the substantival function is cross-linguistically marked as distinct from the verbal action itself. 7×
AR["الشَّارِبُونَ","الشّارِبونَ","شارِبي","شارِبي-","شَارِبَاتِ","لِشَارِبِيهِ"]·ben["পানকারী","পানকারীদের-কাছে","যারা-পান-করছ","যারা-পান-করে"]·DE["trank","trinken"]·EN["The-ones-drinking","drinkers-of","drinkers-of-","strong-drink","the-ones-drinking","those-who-drink"]·FR["[השתים]","[שתי]","boire"]·heb["ה-שׁוֹתים","ה-שותים","ל-שותיו","שותי"]·HI["जो-पीते-हैं","जो-पीते-हो","पीने-वाले","पीने-वालों-को"]·ID["Hai-yang-minum","bagi-peminumnya","peminum","yang-minum"]·IT["bere","bevve","il-due"]·jav["ingkang-nginum","ingkang-ngunjuk","kang-ngunjuk","para-tiyang-ngunjuk","tiyang-ingkang-ngombe","tumrap-ingkang-nginum"]·KO["그-마시는-자들이","마시는-자-들-의","마시는-자들-아","마시는-자들-에게","마시는-자들이-","마시는-자들이여"]·PT["Os-que-bebem","bebedores-de","os-que-bebeis","para-os-que-bebem"]·RU["-пьющие","Пьющие","пьющие","пьющим-его","пьющих"]·ES["Los-que-beben","bebedor-de","bebedores-de","los-que-beben","los-que-beben?","para-los-que-beben"]·SW["Wanaokunywa","kwa-wanaokunywa","mnaokunywa","wanywao","za-wanywao"]·TR["icenlere","içenler","içenler?","içenleri","içenlerın-","İçenler"]·urd["-پینے-والے","پینے-والو","پینے-والوں-کے-لیے","پینے-والے"]
3. sense 3 — Passive or stative usage: to be drunk, to be consumed as liquid. A single occurrence at Lev 11:34 where the Niphal or passive sense appears — 'every drink that may be drunk' in the context of clean/unclean food laws. The passive framing shifts focus from the agent drinking to the liquid being consumed, and the cross-lingual renderings (Spanish se beba, English 'is drunk') consistently use passive constructions, marking this as a functionally distinct voice-driven sense even at minimal attestation. 1×
AR["يُشْرَبُ"]·ben["পান-করা-হয়"]·DE["ist-drunk"]·EN["is-drunk"]·FR["est-drunk"]·heb["ישתה"]·HI["पिया जाएगा"]·ID["diminum"]·IT["e-drunk"]·jav["dipununjuk"]·KO["마시는"]·PT["se-beber"]·RU["будет-выпит"]·ES["se-beba"]·SW["kitanywewa"]·TR["içilir"]·urd["پیا-جائے"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
I. שָׁתָה217 vb. drink (NH id.; Assyrian šatû, Ethiopic ሰትየ Old Aramaic שתה, Aramaic שְׁתָא, אִשְׁתִּי, [ܫܬܐ], ܐܶܫܬܻܝ]; Sab. שתי DHMZMG xxxvii (1883), 403 HomChr 124);— Qal216 Pf. 3 ms. שׁ׳ Ex 34:28 +, 1 s. שָׁתִ֫יתִי 1 S 15 +, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִשְׁתֶּה Gn 44:5 +, וַיִּשְׁתֶּה 1 K 19:8, usually וַיֵּשְׁתְּ Gn 9:21 +; juss. וְיֵשְׁתְּ 1 K 13:18; 3 fs. וַתֵּשְׁתְּ Nu 20:11; 2 ms. apoc. תֵּשְׁתְּ…