To repose (usually figurative)
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The Hebrew verb shaqat describes becoming quiet, settled, or undisturbed. Historical narratives can say that land had rest from war; prophets can picture a people secure, a city quiet after violent judgment, or complacency that ignores the poor.
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Full entry for שָׁקַט (H8252) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb shaqat describes becoming quiet, settled, or undisturbed. Historical narratives can say that land had rest from war; prophets can picture a people secure, a city quiet after violent judgment, or complacency that ignores the poor.
The BSB source-word alignment has 41 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include had rest (6), was at peace (4), to quiet (2), was quiet (2), . . . (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Joshua 11:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (7), Jeremiah (6), Judges (6), 2 Chronicles (5).
The Hebrew verb shaqat describes becoming quiet, settled, or undisturbed. Historical narratives can say that land had rest from war; prophets can picture a people secure, a city quiet after violent judgment, or complacency that ignores the poor. Isaiah joins quiet confidence to repentance, while Job’s lament says he has no ease or quiet because trouble has arrived.
The word therefore names a condition, not an automatic verdict of righteousness. Quiet may be a gracious end to conflict, a posture of trust, a dangerous false security, or simply an experience unavailable to someone in pain. Faithful teaching does not demand silence from victims, equate calm temperament with spiritual maturity, or treat peace maintained by violence as uncomplicated blessing.
It seeks just peace, makes room for lament and trauma responses, and asks what produced the quiet and whose safety it serves.
Shaqat depicts rest from war, settled security, stillness, calm, or cessation. The narratives, wisdom texts, and prophets evaluate that quiet by its cause and fruit, distinguishing God-given rest from complacency, suppression, and vulnerable calm before attack.
Because the land was at peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. In those days no one made war with him, because the Lord had given him rest.
Judah’s freedom from war creates an interval for building, and the narrator attributes the rest to the Lord.
For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.”
Isaiah joins salvation with repentance and rest and strength with quiet confidence, while exposing Judah’s refusal.
Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.
Ezekiel condemns Sodom’s prosperous complacency because pride and abundance did not become help for poor and needy people.
I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”
Job denies having ease, quiet, or rest as trouble overwhelms him, giving honest language to acute suffering.
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.
Wisdom contrasts hot temper that produces strife with patient restraint that helps calm an active dispute.
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. Peaceful cessation of turmoil or activity; predominantly figurative, denoting settled tranquility rather than mere physical stillness.
Peaceful cessation of turmoil or activity; predominantly figurative, denoting settled tranquility rather than mere physical stillness.
to repose (usually figurative) BDB: be quiet Usage: appease, idleness, (at, be at, be in, give) quiet(-ness), (be at, be in, give, have, take) rest, settle, be still.
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 42 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁקַט 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.
Shaqat makes peace concrete and morally testable. In Chronicles, rest from war gives a community room to build and is received as God’s gift. Isaiah 30 calls Judah away from frantic dependence on Egypt toward repentance, rest, and quiet confidence in God. Yet Ezekiel 16 warns that settled abundance can harden into arrogance when poor and needy neighbors are neglected.
Job’s protest prevents teachers from turning quiet into a command that erases suffering: a wounded person may truthfully say that no rest is available. Proverbs commends patient restraint because it lowers conflict rather than feeding it. These texts ask more than whether a room is silent. They ask whether violence has ceased, justice is served, truth can be spoken, and people at risk are safe.
Congregations should pursue peace through accountability, fair process, material care, trauma-aware listening, and protection. They must not call a coerced victim quiet, institutional secrecy, or exhaustion after resistance biblical rest. God-given quiet is compatible with honest lament and active repair.
Isa.30.15
Shaqat is a Hebrew verb of being quiet, settled, still, or undisturbed. Subjects include lands, cities, persons, wrath, disputes, and even a sword, so the surrounding agent and situation determine whether stillness is welcome or troubling.
Jesus gives rest to the burdened and speaks peace amid fear, yet He also disrupts hypocrisy and refuses a peace built on denial. The apostles call believers toward quiet faithfulness, reconciliation, and care for the weak while still naming injustice and protecting the vulnerable.