To send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)
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שָׁלַח (shalaḥ) is a high-frequency Hebrew verb for sending, dispatching, releasing, dismissing, letting go, stretching out, extending, or putting something forth. Noah sends a bird, rulers send messengers, a hand is stretched out, people are released from service or captivity, a spouse can be sent away, prophets are commissioned, armies and agents are dispatched, and God sends word, wind, judgment, help, or a.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׁלַח (H7971) · Open the biblical lexicon
שָׁלַח (shalaḥ) is a high-frequency Hebrew verb for sending, dispatching, releasing, dismissing, letting go, stretching out, extending, or putting something forth. Noah sends a bird, rulers send messengers, a hand is stretched out, people are released from service or captivity, a spouse can be sent away, prophets are commissioned, armies and agents are.
The BSB source-word alignment has 847 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include sent (120), go (24), send (22), I will send (21), he sent (19).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (89), Exodus (74), 2 Kings (71), 1 Samuel (67).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
שָׁלַח (shalaḥ) is a high-frequency Hebrew verb for sending, dispatching, releasing, dismissing, letting go, stretching out, extending, or putting something forth. Noah sends a bird, rulers send messengers, a hand is stretched out, people are released from service or captivity, a spouse can be sent away, prophets are commissioned, armies and agents are dispatched, and God sends word, wind, judgment, help, or a messenger. The verb supplies movement or release, while context supplies purpose, authority, and moral evaluation.
Some sendings liberate, protect, heal, or commission. Others expel, exploit, deceive, expose someone to violence, or carry out judgment. Genesis 21 narrates Hagar being sent away; Deuteronomy regulates release and divorce; Judges 19 records a woman being sent out to horrific violence; Jeremiah condemns prophets whom God did not send. H7971 cannot make a sender legitimate or a mission divine merely because the vocabulary of sending is present.
Moses and Isaiah are sent within particular encounters, messages, resistance, and accountability. Isaiah 55 says God's word accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent, and Isaiah 61 describes a Spirit-anointed commission to bring good news and liberation. These passages support a theology of divine sending only through their full contexts. No leader may use 'God sent me' language to bypass testing, consent, safeguarding, communal discernment, or accountability.
H7971 occurs across narrative, law, worship, wisdom, prophecy, and royal history. It can describe ordinary dispatch, release, dismissal, physical extension, divine commission, false commission, rescue, judgment, and abuse.
Noah sends out a dove to learn whether the floodwaters have receded, an ordinary dispatch toward a practical purpose.
Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away into the wilderness, a painful household expulsion in which God later hears and preserves them.
God sends Moses to Pharaoh to bring Israel out of Egypt, within a sustained call narrative that includes resistance, signs, message, and promised presence.
An enslaved person injured in the eye must be sent free, giving the verb a release sense within bodily-harm law.
A host and husband send a woman outside to a violent mob, a condemned narrative of gendered brutality rather than an authorized model.
Isaiah responds to the Lord's question about whom to send after a vision, confession, and cleansing.
God's word does not return empty but accomplishes the purpose for which God sends it.
God denies sending prophets who ran with their own messages, making tested authority essential to prophetic claims.
God sends a word that heals and delivers distressed people from destruction within a thanksgiving psalm.
Nehemiah discerns that God had not sent the prophet whose counsel was meant to frighten and discredit him.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Conveys deliberate release of agency—from sending messengers to dismissing servants to divorcing wives—across volitional contexts.
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 847 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁלַח is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The term highlights the relational trust placed upon the worker. Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah’s mission originates from divine authority, reinforcing that prophetic ministry flows from God’s sovereign call. Proverbs 10:26
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H7971 helps teachers distinguish the grammar of sending from the theology of a particular mission. Scripture sends birds, servants, messages, armies, spouses, captives, prophets, word, wind, and judgment. Some people are released; others are dismissed, expelled, manipulated, or exposed to harm. Moses and Isaiah cannot be reduced to generic calls to adventurous obedience, because their narratives include divine initiative, defined content, resistance, preparation, presence, and accountability.
Jeremiah 23 and Nehemiah 6 make false commission a central danger. Churches should therefore test claims of being sent, clarify authority and scope, obtain meaningful consent, protect vulnerable people, and preserve routes for reporting harm. Mission language must never require someone to remain in abuse, accept unsafe travel, surrender medical or family responsibilities, or obey a self-appointed leader.
Sending can be faithful, but the verb alone cannot certify the sender.
Exod.3.10
H7971 covers sending and sending away as well as release, dismissal, letting go, stretching out, extending, and putting forth. Constructions involving a hand, messenger, word, spouse, servant, or agent can activate different senses. Greek apostellō and pempō may translate related ideas, but no automatic office or mission doctrine follows from lexical substitution.
The New Testament develops sending language around Jesus, the Spirit, witnesses, and churches through several Greek verbs. Those connections belong to a canonical theology of mission, but H7971 is broader than apostolic commission and does not make every New Testament sending a direct echo of one Hebrew occurrence.
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Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain