What does שָׂבֵעַ mean in the Bible?
שָׂבֵעַ (savea) is an adjective for being satisfied, full, sated, or abundantly supplied. The word describes a condition rather than the act of becoming satisfied.
Hebrew · H7649
שָׂבֵעַ
Satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense)
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שָׂבֵעַ H7649
What does שָׂבֵעַ mean in the Bible?
שָׂבֵעַ (savea) is an adjective for being satisfied, full, sated, or abundantly supplied. The word describes a condition rather than the act of becoming satisfied.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׂבֵעַ (H7649) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H7649?
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and full (3), [I am] full (1), and contented (1), content (1), full (1).
Where does שָׂבֵעַ appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 25:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Job (3), Genesis (2), Proverbs (2), 1 Chronicles (1).
What This Word Actually Means
שָׂבֵעַ (savea) is an adjective for being satisfied, full, sated, or abundantly supplied. The word describes a condition rather than the act of becoming satisfied. Abraham and Isaac die old and full of days, Naphtali is satisfied with favor, and David dies full of days, riches, and honor. Elsewhere the same adjective describes a life filled with trouble, a person resting after eating enough, and an appetite so sated that it rejects honey. The surrounding noun tells readers what kind of fullness is in view.
The ten direct H7649 witnesses do not include Deuteronomy 8:10, Ruth 2:14, Psalm 22:26, Psalm 103:5, or Psalm 107:9. Those passages use related H7646 forms and can inform a broader word-family study, but they must not be presented as occurrences of this adjective. H7649 itself can describe welcome abundance, ordinary satiation, or painful fullness. It does not promise wealth, uninterrupted health, long life, or emotional contentment to every faithful person.
Because fullness can involve food, age, favor, hardship, riches, or honor, pastoral use should resist a single prosperity formula. The adjective can help a community thank God for provision, recognize the dignity of enough, and hear Job's suffering without treating either abundance or scarcity as a simple measure of faith.
Lexical sourcesource_lexiconCanonical synthesis
How the Bible Uses It
H7649 occurs ten times as an adjective. Its contexts describe fullness of days, satisfaction with favor, satiation after eating, abundance of honor or trouble, and an appetite already full.
- Gen.25.8
Abraham dies at a good old age, old and full, after a life narrated under God's promise.
- Deut.33.23
Moses blesses Naphtali as satisfied with favor and full of the Lord's blessing.
- 1Sam.2.5
Hannah's song contrasts those who were full but hire themselves out for bread with the hungry who cease to hunger.
- Job.10.15
Job says he is filled with disgrace and conscious of affliction, showing that the adjective can mark painful abundance.
- Job.14.1
Job describes mortals as few of days and full of trouble, a lament rather than a universal formula for every life.
- Prov.19.23
The proverb associates fear of the Lord with resting satisfied and not being visited by harm, wisdom instruction that must be read proverbially rather than as a guarantee against suffering.
- Prov.27.7
A sated appetite rejects honey, while hunger can make bitter food seem sweet.
- 1Chron.29.28
David dies at a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor, in the Chronicler's closing assessment of his reign.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It and full 3× Genesis 35:29, Job 14:1, Job 42:17
[I am] full 1× Job 10:15
and contented 1× Genesis 25:8
content 1× Proverbs 19:23
full 1× 1 Chronicles 29:28
is abounding 1× Deuteronomy 33:23
that is full 1× Proverbs 27:7
The well-fed 1× 1 Samuel 2:5
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 25:8 וְשָׂבֵ֑עַ to and contented Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 35:29 וּשְׂבַ֣ע to and full Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular construct Deuteronomy 33:23 שְׂבַ֣ע to is abounding Adjective - masculine singular construct 1 Samuel 2:5 שְׂבֵעִ֤ים to The well-fed Adjective - masculine plural 1 Chronicles 29:28 שְׂבַ֥ע to full Adjective - masculine singular construct Job 10:15 שְׂבַ֥ע to [I am] full Adjective - masculine singular construct Job 14:1 וּֽשְׂבַֽע־ to and full Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular construct Job 42:17 וּשְׂבַ֥ע to and full Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular construct Proverbs 19:23 וְשָׂבֵ֥עַ to content Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular Proverbs 27:7 שְׂ֭בֵעָה to that is full Adjective - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Genesis 25:8
Aligned rows 10
Books represented 6
Genesis 2 Deuteronomy 1 1 Samuel 1 1 Chronicles 1 Job 3 Proverbs 2
Source forms
שְׂבַ֥ע 2x śə·ḇa‘ 1 Chronicles 29:28, Job 10:15
וְשָׂבֵ֑עַ 1x wə·śā·ḇê·a‘ Genesis 25:8
וְשָׂבֵ֥עַ 1x wə·śā·ḇê·a‘ Proverbs 19:23
וּשְׂבַ֣ע 1x ū·śə·ḇa‘ Genesis 35:29
וּשְׂבַ֥ע 1x ū·śə·ḇa‘ Job 42:17
וּֽשְׂבַֽע־ 1x ū·śə·ḇa‘- Job 14:1
שְׂבַ֣ע 1x śə·ḇa‘ Deuteronomy 33:23
שְׂ֭בֵעָה 1x śə·b̲ē·ʿāh Proverbs 27:7
Parsing patterns
Adjective - masculine singular construct 3x Deuteronomy 33:23, 1 Chronicles 29:28, Job 10:15
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular construct 3x Genesis 35:29, Job 14:1, Job 42:17
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular 2x Genesis 25:8, Proverbs 19:23
Adjective - feminine singular 1x Proverbs 27:7
Adjective - masculine plural 1x 1 Samuel 2:5
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Receive seasons of sufficiency with gratitude while remaining attentive to neighbors who lack food, safety, health, or material stability.
- Use food and appetite imagery with care around hunger, medical restrictions, eating disorders, and body shame.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that faithful people are guaranteed wealth, bodily fullness, long life, or freedom from hardship.
- Do not treat scarcity, illness, grief, or an early death as proof of weak faith or divine rejection.
- Do not cite related H7646 passages as direct occurrences of H7649.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense)
Source Gloss
satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense)
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense) BDB: sated Usage: full (of), satisfied (with).
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
שָׂבֵעַ is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
H7649 helps teachers ask what fills a life and how the text evaluates that fullness. Abraham, Isaac, and David are described as full at death; Naphtali is satisfied with favor; Job is full of trouble; and Proverbs observes both settled satisfaction and a sated appetite. These direct uses make room for gratitude and grief without turning prosperity, appetite, age, or emotional ease into a scorecard of faith.
Food-related teaching should honor people facing hunger, eating disorders, medical restrictions, or body shame, and age-related texts should not imply that an early death proves divine disfavor. The ten-witness corpus also disciplines word-study method: related verb texts can illuminate a family resemblance, but they cannot replace the adjective's own evidence.
A responsible message names the kind of fullness in each passage, respects genre, and asks how provision can become gratitude and shared care rather than entitlement.
Anchor passage
Gen.25.8
Doctrinal connections
- Gen.25.8 and Gen.35.29: full lives at the deaths of Abraham and Isaac
- Deut.33.23: satisfaction with favor and blessing
- 1Sam.2.5: reversal between the full and the hungry
- Job.10.15 and Job.14.1: fullness of affliction and trouble
- Prov.19.23 and Prov.27.7: satisfied rest and satiated appetite
- 1Chron.29.28: days, riches, and honor in a royal summary
H7649 is an adjective. The related verb H7646 describes being or becoming satisfied and has a different occurrence inventory; the related noun H7647 names fullness or abundance. Word-family connections are useful only when the direct lexical identity of each passage remains explicit.
From Old to New Testament
New Testament teaching on provision, hunger, riches, contentment, and resurrection can broaden a canonical study, but no Greek term should be treated as an automatic one-to-one equivalent of H7649. Connections should arise from shared themes and passage context, not an asserted lexical succession.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain