שַׁחַל Lion (shachal)
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 shachal — the roarer of Iyov and Hoshea, one of the Tanakh's five words for the lion, kept mostly for poetry.
כִּי אָנֹכִי כַשַּׁחַל לְאֶפְרַיִם וְכַכְּפִיר לְבֵית יְהוּדָה אֲנִי אֲנִי אֶטְרֹף וְאֵלֵךְ אֶשָּׂא וְאֵין מַצִּֽיל
For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, And as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away, I will take away, and there shall be none to deliver.
וָאֱהִי לָהֶם כְּמוֹ־שָׁחַל כְּנָמֵר עַל־דֶּרֶךְ אָשֽׁוּר
Therefore am I become unto them as a lion; As a leopard will I watch by the way;
עַל־שַׁחַל וָפֶתֶן תִּדְרֹךְ תִּרְמֹס כְּפִיר וְתַנִּֽין
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and asp; The young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under feet.
אָמַר עָצֵל שַׁחַל בַּדָּרֶךְ אֲרִי בֵּין הָרְחֹבֽוֹת
The sluggard saith: ‘There is a lion in the way; Yea, a lion is in the streets.’
שַׁאֲגַת אַרְיֵה וְקוֹל שָׁחַל וְשִׁנֵּי כְפִירִים נִתָּֽעוּ
The lion roareth, and the fierce lion howleth— Yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
וְיִגְאֶה כַּשַּׁחַל תְּצוּדֵנִי וְתָשֹׁב תִּתְפַּלָּא־בִֽי
And if it exalt itself, Thou huntest me as a lion; And again Thou showest Thyself marvellous upon me.
לֹֽא־הִדְרִיכֻהוּ בְנֵי־שָׁחַץ לֹֽא־עָדָה עָלָיו שָֽׁחַל
The proud beasts have not trodden it, Nor hath the lion passed thereby.
Every Hebrew word for “lion”, with its gematria →
Quick answers
What is the Hebrew word for lion?
Lion in Hebrew is שחל, with a gematria of 338 in the standard method.
How many times is the lion mentioned in the Tanakh?
The word stands 7 times in the Tanakh, first at Hosea 5:14.
A spelling is not a word. The bare letters שחל stand 5 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 5 occurrences of the spelling שחל →