Original Word: שִׁבְרוֹן
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: shibrown
Pronunciation: shib-baw-rone'
Phonetic Spelling: (shib-rone')
KJV: breaking, destruction
NASB: breaking, destruction
Word Origin: [from H7665 (שָׁבַר - broken)]

1. rupture, i.e. a pang
2. (figuratively) ruin

breaking, destruction

From shabar; rupture, i.e. A pang; figuratively, ruin -- breaking, destruction.

see HEBREW shabar

Word Origin
from shabar
Definition
a breaking, crushing
NASB Translation
breaking (1), destruction (1).

שִׁבָּרוֺן noun [masculine] breaking, crushing; — figurative; construct שִׁבְרוֺן מָתְנַיִם Ezekiel 21:11 (emotional distress; "" מְרִירוּת); read ׳שִׁבָּ also (for ᵑ0 שִׁכָּרוֺן) Ezekiel 23:33 Co Berthol Krae; crushing of opponents Jeremiah 17:18.

Definition and Conceptual Range

שִׁבְרוֹן (shivron) pictures a state of crushing, fracture, or shattering—whether of material objects, human bodies, or, more poignantly, the inner life. It conveys not a superficial injury but an irreparable breaking apart that only divine intervention can mend.

Occurrences in Scripture

• Jeremiah 17:18: “Bring upon them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.” Here shivron joins another term for “breaking” to intensify the judgment pronounced on the prophet’s persecutors.
• Ezekiel 21:6: “Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief.” The same word depicts the prophet’s interior anguish, mirroring the national calamity soon to overtake Judah.

Historical Background

Both appearances fall in the final decades of the kingdom of Judah, a period marked by political intrigue, idolatry, and looming Babylonian conquest. Jeremiah and Ezekiel ministered to a people hardened by sin yet about to be crushed by God’s righteous verdict. Shivron thus becomes a prophetic watchword announcing that the covenant nation’s stubborn rebellion will end in literal and figurative fracture.

Prophetic Overtones

1. Judicial Finality: In Jeremiah, shivron describes a decisive, doubled calamity, underscoring that God’s judgments perfectly match the depth of covenant treachery (Jeremiah 17:1-4, 27).
2. Personal Identification: Ezekiel’s broken-hearted groaning embodies the Lord’s own grief over the coming devastation (Ezekiel 21:1-4). The prophet’s physical act dramatizes divine sorrow, revealing that judgment, though necessary, never springs from capricious wrath.

Spiritual and Pastoral Application

• Exposure of Hidden Idolatry: Shivron forces the heart to confront its idols. National structures crumble so that “the heart is deceitful above all things” may be laid bare (Jeremiah 17:9).
• Pathway to Restoration: Scriptural patterns show that God breaks in order to heal (Psalm 34:18; Isaiah 57:15). The same hand that fractures can set the bones, inviting repentance and renewal.
• Empathy in Ministry: Ezekiel’s enacted lament calls leaders to feel what God feels. Authentic shepherding involves sharing the congregation’s pain and interceding for their restoration.

Christological Foreshadowing

Shivron reaches its climactic fulfillment at Calvary, where the Messiah “was pierced for our transgressions” and his body broken for sinners (Isaiah 53:5; Luke 22:19). The prophetic imagery of irreversible shattering meets its redemptive answer in the resurrection, when the broken is raised incorruptible. Thus every shivron in Scripture ultimately points to the cross, where divine justice and mercy converge.

Practical Ministry Takeaways

1. Preach both judgment and hope: shivron warns the unrepentant yet drives the penitent to grace.
2. Cultivate godly lament: authentic grief over sin prepares hearts for revival.
3. Offer Christ as the healer of shattered lives: only the Gospel turns permanent fracture into eternal wholeness.

בְּשִׁבְר֤וֹן בשברון שִׁבָּר֖וֹן שברון bə·šiḇ·rō·wn beshivRon bəšiḇrōwn shibbaRon šib·bā·rō·wn šibbārōwnInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts