שׁוּעָל Fox
Every verse in which this word stands — 7 places, in canonical order, first appearance to last. These are the places the lexicon carries under this word's own entry, counting every form the text writes it in, which is the number on the list.
The shu'al — Shimshon's three hundred, the little foxes of Shir HaShirim. Fox or jackal is discussed verse by verse; the Hebrew is one word.
וַיֵּלֶךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן וַיִּלְכֹּד שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵאוֹת שׁוּעָלִים וַיִּקַּח לַפִּדִים וַיֶּפֶן זָנָב אֶל־זָנָב וַיָּשֶׂם לַפִּיד אֶחָד בֵּין־שְׁנֵי הַזְּנָבוֹת בַּתָּֽוֶךְ
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails.
כְּשֻׁעָלִים בָּחֳרָבוֹת נְבִיאֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל הָיֽוּ
O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in ruins.
יַגִּירֻהוּ עַל־יְדֵי־חָרֶב מְנָת שֻׁעָלִים יִהְיֽוּ
They shall be hurled to the power of the sword; They shall be a portion for foxes.
אֶֽחֱזוּ־לָנוּ שֽׁוּעָלִים שֽׁוּעָלִים קְטַנִּים מְחַבְּלִים כְּרָמִים וּכְרָמֵינוּ סְמָדַֽר
’Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom.’
אֶֽחֱזוּ־לָנוּ שֽׁוּעָלִים שֽׁוּעָלִים קְטַנִּים מְחַבְּלִים כְּרָמִים וּכְרָמֵינוּ סְמָדַֽר
’Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom.’
עַל הַר־צִיּוֹן שֶׁשָּׁמֵם שׁוּעָלִים הִלְּכוּ־בֽוֹ
For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, The foxes walk upon it.
וְטוֹבִיָּה הָעַמֹּנִי אֶצְלוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר גַּם אֲשֶׁר־הֵם בּוֹנִים אִם־יַעֲלֶה שׁוּעָל וּפָרַץ חוֹמַת אַבְנֵיהֶֽם
Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said: ‘Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall.’
Every Hebrew word for “fox”, with its gematria →
Quick answers
What is the Hebrew word for fox?
Fox in Hebrew is שועל, with a gematria of 406 in the standard method.
How many times is the fox mentioned in the Tanakh?
The word stands 7 times in the Tanakh, first at Judges 15:4.
A spelling is not a word. The bare letters שועל stand 6 times in the corpus, which is a different question and often a different number: the same letters can spell a name or another word entirely, and the creature written with a particle attached is a spelling that search never returns. It is here, as itself.
See all 6 occurrences of the spelling שועל →