To transport into captivity
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The Hebrew verb shavah describes taking a person or group captive and carrying them away by force. Narratives use it for relatives seized in war, women and children removed after a raid, a young girl taken from her land into service, and populations held by military power.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׁבָה (H7617) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb shavah describes taking a person or group captive and carrying them away by force. Narratives use it for relatives seized in war, women and children removed after a raid, a young girl taken from her land into service, and populations held by military power.
The BSB source-word alignment has 47 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of their captors (4), took them captive (3), and carried off (2), as captives (2), captives (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 14:14. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Chronicles (12), 1 Kings (6), Jeremiah (6), 1 Samuel (3).
The Hebrew verb shavah describes taking a person or group captive and carrying them away by force. Narratives use it for relatives seized in war, women and children removed after a raid, a young girl taken from her land into service, and populations held by military power. Other passages command captors to return prisoners, show an army feeding captured men instead of killing them, or condemn captors who refuse release.
The verb centers an action performed by a captor; it must not be softened into ordinary travel or treated as the captive's choice. A captive may later speak, serve, pray, resist, or return, but those responses do not make the original seizure acceptable. Accounts of Abram or David pursuing captors do not authorize untrained private rescue attempts or violent vigilantism.
Second Kings 6 interrupts expected retaliation with food, water, and release, while Second Chronicles 28 confronts the taking of fellow Israelites and requires their return. Responsible teaching identifies who takes whom, what coercion is present, and whether the text reports, condemns, limits, or reverses the act. It supports protection and lawful recovery while keeping survivors' agency, safety, and long-term care central.
Shavah is a verb of taking or carrying away captive. Active and passive forms distinguish captors acting from people experiencing capture, while the surrounding narrative identifies violence, property loss, family separation, mercy, release, or recovery.
And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.
Abram learns that his relative has been captured and mobilizes trained household men in pursuit.
They had taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off as they went on their way.
Raiders take women and everyone else in Ziklag, both young and old, captive and carry them away.
At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife.
Aramean raiders take a young Israelite girl, who is then serving Naaman's wife.
“Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.”
Elisha forbids killing captured troops and directs that food and water be set before them before their return.
Now therefore, listen to me and return the captives you took from your kinsmen, for the fierce anger of the Lord is upon you.”
The prophet Oded commands the northern army to return the captives taken from their own kinsmen.
This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “The sons of Israel are oppressed, and the sons of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to release them.
Jeremiah describes Israel and Judah as oppressed while captors hold them fast and refuse release.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Forcible removal from homeland; denotes coercive displacement of entire populations, often divine judgment for covenant violation
Forcible removal from homeland; denotes coercive displacement of entire populations, often divine judgment for covenant violation
to transport into captivity BDB: take captive Usage: (bring away, carry, carry away, lead, lead away, take) captive(-s), drive (take) away.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 47 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁבָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Shavah keeps the act of taking visible. Genesis 14 says Abram's relative was captured before describing a pursuit carried out with trained household men and allied support. The narrative is not a license for a private individual to ignore law, expertise, or the endangered person's safety. First Samuel 30 names women, children, and other residents taken from a burned town.
Their survival and later recovery do not make abduction less violent. Second Kings 5 introduces a young Israelite girl seized by raiders and serving in an Aramean household. Her courageous testimony about the prophet should be honored without describing her captivity as a beneficial placement or using later good to excuse the raid. In Second Kings 6, Elisha refuses the king's request to kill captured troops and orders food and water before their release.
The passage limits retaliation and keeps captives' lives within moral view. Second Chronicles 28 confronts an Israelite army for taking fellow Israelites and requires return, clothing, food, medical care, transport for the weak, and restoration to their community in the following verses. Jeremiah 50 condemns captors who hold people fast and refuse to let them go.
Faithful application names coercion honestly, listens to survivors, coordinates lawful protection and recovery, and provides care after release without controlling the survivor's testimony or next decisions.
2Chr.28.11
Shavah transliterates Hebrew שָׁבָה. The governed morphology records Qal forms for taking captive and Niphal forms for being captured, helping readers distinguish coercive agency from the condition experienced by captives.
New Testament rescue and captivity texts continue to name imprisonment, deliverance, and freedom through several distinct Greek words. G1807 in this batch can name taking something out or rescuing someone, but it does not erase shavah's focus on the captor's forced removal of people.