Shaan describes leaning, resting or relying, with the support identified by the sentence. Abraham invites visitors to rest beneath a tree, and Numbers uses the verb in a geographical description of slopes along Moab's border.
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Full entry for שָׁעַן (H8172) · Open the biblical lexicon
Shaan describes leaning, resting or relying, with the support identified by the sentence. Abraham invites visitors to rest beneath a tree, and Numbers uses the verb in a geographical description of slopes along Moab's border.
The BSB source-word alignment has 22 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include - (1), . . . (1), and lean (1), and lie (1), and relying (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 18:4. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Chronicles (5), Isaiah (5), 2 Kings (3), Job (2).
Shaan describes leaning, resting or relying, with the support identified by the sentence. Abraham invites visitors to rest beneath a tree, and Numbers uses the verb in a geographical description of slopes along Moab's border. Those ordinary uses should remain ordinary. Proverbs calls for wholehearted trust in the Lord rather than making one's own understanding the final support.
Isaiah invites the person walking in darkness to lean on God, while Chronicles contrasts Asa's earlier reliance on the Lord with later dependence on a political ally. Micah exposes leaders who lean on the Lord in their own claim of immunity even as they judge for bribes and serve for money. The verb therefore can name faithful dependence, physical support or a false religious assurance.
Responsible teaching asks who or what bears the weight and whether that reliance accords with truth and justice. It neither condemns thoughtful reasoning and practical help nor makes a leader's claim to trust God proof of safety.
The leaning witnesses range from rest beneath a tree and a geographic slope to trust in God, misplaced political dependence and corrupt leaders' claim of immunity.
Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.
Abraham offers water and rest beneath a tree in his hospitality to the visitors, retaining a concrete bodily use.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
Leaning on one's own understanding is contrasted with wholehearted trust in the Lord, within instruction that still values wisdom and correction.
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord; let him lean on his God.
The person fearing the Lord yet walking without light is invited to lean on God; darkness is not automatically declared disobedience.
At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and told him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
Hanani rebukes Asa's reliance on Aram rather than the Lord and recalls the earlier deliverance before narrating the king's response.
Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.”
Corrupt leaders claim to lean on the Lord while accepting bribes and paid divination; their assurance does not prevent the announced judgment.
Even the slopes of the wadis that extend to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.”
The verb describes slopes lying along Moab's border in a geographical quotation, without assigning that land spiritual reliance.
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. Physical leaning transitions to trusting reliance; denotes dependent weight-bearing on another's strength or support.
Physical leaning transitions to trusting reliance; denotes dependent weight-bearing on another's strength or support.
to support one's self BDB: lean Usage: lean, lie, rely, rest (on, self), stay.
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 1 selected witness from 22 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁעַן is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The shift from reliance on Assyria to reliance on the Lord defines authentic repentance.Isaiah 10:20-23
Proverbs 3 places trust in the Lord within instruction about wisdom, faithful conduct and receiving correction. Refusing to make one's own understanding ultimate is not the same as refusing to think. Isaiah 50 likewise addresses a person who fears God and hears His Servant yet walks without light. The invitation to lean on God does not diagnose every period of darkness as the result of failed faith.
Chronicles provides an accountable historical comparison: Asa once asked the Lord to help the powerless, but Hanani later rebukes his reliance on Aram. Asa's anger and oppression belong to the sequel and must remain part of the assessment. Micah supplies a sharper warning when leaders lean on the Lord in their boast while exploiting their offices. Their religious language cannot cancel the announced judgment.
Abraham's hospitality and Numbers' geographical slopes keep the ordinary range in view. Teaching can therefore commend dependence that remains open to correction, prudent assistance and honest lament, without giving human authorities control over another person's judgment or using Asa's later illness to prohibit treatment.
Prov.3.5
The selected forms are Nifal forms, including Abraham's imperative, prophetic invitations and expressions of reliance. The stated complement identifies physical or relational support; neither a stem label nor a shared root supplies the passage's moral evaluation.
Second Corinthians 12:1-10 presents Paul's repeated request concerning weakness and Christ's sufficient grace, rather than a technique guaranteeing removal of every burden. This can support humble dependence through difficulty while leaving the Hebrew leaning verb's bodily, geographical and prophetic uses distinct.