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H7620 · Hebrew · Old Testament
שָׁבוּעַ
Shabuah
Noun, masculine
Week / Seven-Day Period

Definition

The Hebrew shabuah means a week or period of seven days, from sheva (H7651, seven). It can also refer to a 'week of years' (seven years). The plural shavuot gives the name to the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), celebrated seven weeks after Passover.

Usage & Theological Significance

The seven-day week is not a natural astronomical cycle but a divine institution from Creation (Genesis 2:2-3). The shabuah embeds the Sabbath rhythm into time itself — work six, rest one, glorifying God by resting in His completed work. The Feast of Shavuot (Weeks) celebrates the wheat harvest and became associated with the giving of the Law at Sinai. In Acts 2, Pentecost (Greek for fifty days) — another name for Shavuot — becomes the occasion for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Daniel's 'seventy sevens' (shivim shabuim, Daniel 9:24-27) is the most complex prophetic use: 70 weeks of years, the countdown to the Messiah's arrival and the events of the end.

Key Bible Verses

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks (shabuim) are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness.
Leviticus 23:15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks (shabuot).
Genesis 29:27 Finish this daughter's bridal week (shabuah); then we will give you the younger one also.
Deuteronomy 16:9 Count off seven weeks (shabuot) from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.
Daniel 10:2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks (shabuim yamim).

Related Words

External Resources

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