Shâbar (שָׁבַר, Strong's #7665), “to break, shatter, smash, crush.” This word is frequently used in ancient Akkadian and Ugaritic, and is common throughout Hebrew. It is found almost 150 times in the Hebrew Bible. The first biblical occurrence of shâbar is in Gen. 19:9, which tells how the men of Sodom threatened to “break” Lot’s door to take his house guests.The common word for “breaking” things, shâbar describes the breaking of earthen vessels (Judg. 7:20; Jer. 19:10), of bows (Hos. 1:5), of swords (Hos. 2:18), of bones (Exod. 12:46), and of yokes or bonds (Jer. 28:10, 12-13). Sometimes it is used figuratively to describe a “shattered” heart or emotion (Ps. 69:20; Ezek. 6:9). In its intensive sense, shâbar connotes “shattering” something, such as the tablets of the Law (Exod. 32:19) or idol images (2 Kings 11:18), or the “shattering” of trees by hail (Exod. 9:25).