שֹׁמרֹנִי (sho.m.ro.ni)
sho.m.ro.ni
Samaritan
N:N-M-PQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- N:N-M-P
Word Overview
The adjective shomroni identifies someone or something as belonging to Samaria, specifically referring to the inhabitants of that region. It functions as a gentilic term, meaning it describes people by their geographic origin rather than by ethnicity or religion alone. The word is derived directly from shomron, the name for the city and district of Samaria.
This form appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, in 2 Kings 17:29. In that context, the text uses it to describe the local residents who began worshipping foreign gods after being resettled by the Assyrian empire. The verse highlights how these "Samaritans" combined their new religious practices with a fear of the Lord, illustrating the complex cultural mixing that characterized the region at that time.
Because the term occurs so rarely, it serves as a precise historical marker for the people living in Samaria during the Assyrian period. It distinguishes these inhabitants from other groups in Israel and Judah, anchoring their identity firmly to the city of Samaria. The singular usage underscores how specific this designation was within the biblical narrative.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word shomroni appears just once in the Hebrew Bible, identifying the people of Samaria during a time of great upheaval. In 2 Kings 17:29, it describes residents who had been resettled by the Assyrian empire and were mixing their new religious practices with a fear of the Lord. This single term anchors us to a specific historical moment where cultural identity and spiritual confusion intersected.
For your faith today, this word reminds us that history is not just about dates and battles but about real people trying to find God in complex circumstances. It invites humility, acknowledging that our understanding of truth often develops through struggle and community interaction. We can trust that God’s purposes extend beyond simple categories, working even within mixed or uncertain contexts.
When we encounter such passages, we are encouraged to look past surface differences and see the deeper human longing for divine connection. This historical marker helps us appreciate the richness of biblical narrative while remaining grounded in the specific realities of those who came before us.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- the/ Samaritans1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- הַ/שֹּׁ֣מְרֹנִ֔ים1×
Key Verses
-
II Kings 17:29
However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
This verse uses shomroni to identify the resettled inhabitants who created their own gods in the high places, highlighting the cultural and religious mixing of the period.