I. Name

šēkār occurs 23 times in the Bible, nearly always in conjunction with yayin ‘wine’, the two forming a kind of hendiadys which means ‘an intoxicating wine’ (similarly combined in Ugaritic, see RSP 1:209, no. 248). Only in two cases does šēkār occur alone: Num. 28.7; Ps. 69.13. The noun šēkār is derived from šākar ‘to intoxicate, become intoxicated’ (see, e.g., 1 Sam. 1.13–14; Jer. 25.27; Jer. 48.26; Prov. 31.4–7).

šēkār denotes a strong and intoxicating drink (thus also th…