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H7716 · Hebrew · Old Testament
שֶׂה
Seh
Noun, masculine
Lamb, sheep, young animal of flock

Definition

The Hebrew noun seh refers to a single head of small livestock — a lamb or kid (young goat) from the flock. It is the word used for the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:3, 5), the daily sacrifice, and Isaiah's suffering servant compared to a lamb led to slaughter. It represents the basic sacrificial animal.

Usage & Theological Significance

Seh is the Passover word. In Exodus 12:3-5, each household was to take a seh — one per household — and slaughter it at twilight. The blood on the doorpost would cause the destroyer to pass over. This single lamb for each household foreshadows the single Lamb for all humanity. Isaiah 53:7 draws the line explicitly: the Servant is like a seh led to slaughter, silent before its shearers. John the Baptist applies this directly to Jesus: "Look, the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). Revelation's climax features not a lion on the throne but a Lamb — slain yet standing (Revelation 5:6). The seh of Exodus becomes the cosmic Lamb of eternity.

Key Bible Verses

Exodus 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
Exodus 12:5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
1 Samuel 17:34 But David said to Saul, 'Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock.'
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'

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