be-rev', be-rev'-er, be-reft': Bereave is frequently used in the Old Testament in the (now almost obsolete) meaning of "to deprive," "to take away," especially with reference to loss of children. The Hebrew word used here is shakhol, "to be childless," or in the Piel "to make childless" (compare Genesis 42:36 et al.). In the King James Version Ecclesiastes 4:8 (from the Hebrew chacer, "to lack") we read "and bereave my soul of good" (the Revised Version (British and American) "deprive"), and in Ezekiel 36:14 (from Hebrew kashal, "to stumble"), "neither bereave thy nations any more" (the Revised Version, margin "cause to stumble").

Bereaver, otherwise very rare, is found the Revised Version (British and American) Ezekiel 36:13 (from Hebrew shakhol "to be childless"), "a bereaver of thy nation" (the King James Version "hast bereaved").

Bereft is found in 1 Timothy 6:5 (from the Greek apostereo, "to rob") "bereft of the truth" (the King James Version "destitute"). The expression bereavement (the Revised Version (British and American) Isaiah 49:20) in the phrase "the children of thy bereft" means "the children born to thee in the time when God had afflicted thee."

A. L. Breslich