H7896 — שִׁית (shiyth)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7896
Original: שִׁית
Transliteration: shiyth
Pronunciation: sheeth
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: Primitive root (cognate noun H7897 shiyth = garment/covering)
Occurrences: 80 unique verses (86 tokens) in OT
First Occurrence: Gen 3:15 — "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to place (in a very wide application): — apply, appoint, array, bring, consider, lay (up), let alone, look, make, mark, put (on), regard, set, shew, be stayed, take.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	~83	place, set, put, make, lay, appoint, regard
Hophal	2	be laid (upon), be imposed (passive)

The Qal covers the full semantic range. The Hophal appears only in Exo 21:30 (x2): "If there be laid on him a sum of money."

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Group	Verses	%
put / I will put / hath put / did put	~14	18%
set / I will set / they have set	~12	15%
make / I will make / thou hast made	~12	15%
laid / and laid / lay / lay up	~10	12%
appoint / hath appointed	3	4%
regard / consider / mark / look	5	6%
bring / take / array / shew	5	6%
be stayed / let alone	2	2%
Other unique renderings	~17	22%

The wide translation spread reflects the verb's semantic breadth — it is a general-purpose "placing" verb.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Psalms	30	1.2
Job	8	0.7
Genesis	7	0.5
Exodus	7	0.6
Jeremiah	7	0.5
Isaiah	5	0.4
Proverbs	4	0.4
2 Samuel	3	0.4
Numbers	2	0.2
Hosea	2	1.0
1 Samuel	2	0.2
Ruth	2	—
1 Kings	1	0.1

Psalms dominates with 37% of all occurrences (30/80). The word is concentrated in poetic and prophetic literature. Notably absent from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and the post-exilic historical books.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Placing / Positioning (Physical)¶

Gen 48:14 — "Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid [it] upon Ephraim's head"
Gen 30:40 — "Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked"
Ruth 3:15 — "he measured six measures of barley, and laid [it] on her"
Exo 23:1 — "Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness"

2. Divine Appointing / Establishing¶

Gen 3:15 — "I will put enmity between thee and the woman" (protoevangelium)
Psa 110:1 — "until I make thine enemies thy footstool"
Isa 26:1 — "salvation will God appoint [for] walls and bulwarks"
Gen 4:25 — "God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel"
Psa 132:11 — "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne"

3. Setting the Heart / Mind (Attention, Regard)¶

Exo 7:23 — "neither did he set his heart to this also"
Job 7:17 — "What is man... that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?"
Psa 62:10 — "if riches increase, set not your heart upon them"
Pro 22:17 — "hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge"
Pro 24:32 — "I saw, and considered it well"

4. Making / Rendering (Transformative Placement)¶

Psa 21:9 — "Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger"
Psa 21:6 — "thou hast made him most blessed for ever"
Isa 5:6 — "I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged"
Jer 51:39 — "I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken"
1 Ki 11:34 — "I will make him prince all the days of his life"

5. Imposing / Laying Upon (Burden, Penalty, Placement on Someone)¶

Num 12:11 — "lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly"
Exo 21:30 — "If there be laid on him a sum of money" (Hophal — passive imposition)
Exo 21:22 — "he shall pay as the judges determine [lit. impose]"
Psa 88:6 — "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit"
Job 9:33 — "Neither is there any daysman... that might lay his hand upon us both"

6. Setting in Array / Setting Before (Display, Presentation)¶

Psa 90:8 — "Thou hast set our iniquities before thee"
Psa 101:3 — "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes"
Jer 31:21 — "Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps"
Psa 141:3 — "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth"
Psa 48:13 — "Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces"

7. Setting Darkness / Boundaries (Cosmic Placement)¶

2 Sam 22:12 — "He made darkness pavilions round about him"
Psa 104:20 — "Thou makest darkness, and it is night"
Exo 23:31 — "I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines"
Job 38:11 — "here shall thy proud waves be stayed"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עַל (ʻal)	H5921	25x (31%)	"set/put/lay upon" — directional placement
לֵב (leb)	H3820	11x (14%)	"set one's heart" — attention/regard idiom
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	10x (12%)	"set in the land" / "make the land" desolate
יָד (yad)	H3027	9x (11%)	"put/lay hand" upon — authority or contact
פָּנִים (paniym)	H6440	9x (11%)	"set before face" — presentation/attention
יְהֹוָה (Yehovah)	H3068	13x (16%)	God as subject of placing/appointing
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	8x (10%)	Co-occurs as near-synonym in parallel contexts

The dominant collocation pattern is shiyth + ʻal (31%), confirming the core meaning "to place upon." The leb collocation (14%) shows the important metaphorical extension "to direct one's attention."

Word Family / Cognates¶

H7897 שִׁית (shiyth) — masculine noun: garment, covering (Prov 7:10 "attire of an harlot"; Psa 73:6 — 2v only)

Synonyms (from SDBH Semantic Domains)¶

H7760 שׂוּם (suwm) — to put, set, make (the primary synonym; ~580v vs 80v for shiyth; overlaps in nearly all senses but is the dominant, prosaic form)
H5414 נָתַן (nathan) — to give, put, set (broader range including "give"; overlaps in the "put/place" sense)
H5324 נָצַב (natsab) — to station, set upright (more specific: implies fixed, upright positioning)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
שׂוּם (suwm)	H7760	set, put, make, laid	suwm is the dominant prosaic synonym (~7x more frequent); shiyth is poetic/archaic
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	put, set, make, laid	nathan centers on "give/grant"; only secondarily "put/place"
עָשָׂה (asah)	H6213	make	asah = "do/make" broadly; shiyth "make" = placing into a state/position

Key distinction: shiyth is the poetic/archaic counterpart to suwm. Where suwm appears across all genres, shiyth clusters in poetry (Psalms 37%) and prophetic discourse. Both mean "to place," but shiyth carries a more deliberate, purposeful connotation — setting something as something, placing with intent.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
τίθημι (tithemi) G5087	35	16.17	Primary equivalent — "to place, set, put"
ἐπιβάλλω (epiballo) G1911	5	8.54	"throw/lay upon"
σκοτεινός (skoteinos) G4652	3	8.21	"dark" (for darkness-making passages)
τάσσω (tasso) G5021	4	6.79	"appoint, arrange"
καθίστημι (kathistemi) G2525	4	5.03	"appoint, constitute"
καρδία (kardia) G2588	10	4.97	Component of "set the heart" idiom

G5087 tithemi dominates with 35 co-occurrences, confirming it as the standard LXX rendering. The wide array of secondary equivalents reflects the translators adapting to context.