to pay close attention: to turn the ear toward someone and take in what they say
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled
This verb is not about whether sound reaches the ear but about whether a person leans in and gives it their full notice. The Bible pictures it as inclining or turning the ear toward a speaker, the bodily posture of someone who has stopped to take something seriously. So it reaches beyond simply hearing a noise; it is the deliberate, focused attention a student gives a teacher or a friend gives a confidence.
The same act of attending shows up in three settings that share one core idea. People are called to attend to instruction and wise words. God is asked to attend to a prayer, and is praised when he does. And to attend to a command can shade into taking it to heart and acting on it, which is why the prophets so often accuse the people of refusing to attend, meaning they would not listen and obey.
Because it is the same act of focused attention throughout, these are shades of one meaning rather than separate words. What changes is who is attending and to what, not what the verb itself describes.
Nuances
1ato attend closely to words, instruction, or wisdom; a summons to a listener to give their full attention
names the inward turning of attention toward a speaker, the choice to take the words seriously, not merely the reception of soundPro 4:1Isa 28:23
Both
both summon a listener to attend closely to what is being saidJob 13:6
Only hearken
the English word is now archaic and faintly biblical-sounding, so it can feel like a mere call to listen rather than the active, weighty attention the original asks for
carries the further step of taking the words to heart and obeying, which is why refusing this verb is treated as rebellionZec 1:4Isa 48:18
Both
both ask the hearer not just to take in the words but to attend to them with intent1Sa 15:22
Only give heed
in modern English heed can sound like a mild warning rather than the deliberate, full attention the Hebrew pictures as turning the ear
“attend”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“listen”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How qashav differs from similar Hebrew words
שָׁמַעshama is the broad, common verb to hear, covering everything from perceiving a sound to obeying; this word narrows in on the deliberate attention that good hearing requires, which is why the two often stand side by side.
Names focused attention itself: pricking up the ear to concentrate on what is being said, stopping short of the compliance שָׁמַע can reach.Pro 4:1Pro 4:20Pro 7:24
Rare and concentrated in poetry and wisdom as a call to heed, where the issue is whether the hearer will pay heed at all.Psa 5:2Isa 34:1Jer 6:10
Both
Both appeal for God to attend to a prayer, and the two run in parallel for the single act of being heard.Psa 17:1
Both call an audience to give heed to a summons, paired by the prophets and the sages as a matched plea for attention.Isa 28:23
Stretches from a passing sound all the way to full compliance, so the one verb can mean simply to register a report.Gen 14:14Gen 21:17
At its far end it means to obey, doing what one has heard, a sense קָשַׁב does not carry.Exo 19:5Deu 28:1
The common, all-purpose hearing verb of every book and register, not limited to a posture of attention.Gen 3:101Ki 10:6
אָזַןazan means to give ear, formed from the word for ear; it overlaps almost completely with this verb and frequently runs parallel to it in poetry, both calling for the ear to be turned toward the speaker.
It leans toward heeding and acting on what is heard, so its absence describes flat refusal: people who hear the words yet will not take them in or obey.Pro 1:24Jer 6:19Zec 7:11
It carries a sense of attending closely, the ear pricked up, and so it marks careful, deliberate attention rather than a general call to listen.Pro 4:1Pro 4:20Isa 32:3
Both
Both are prayers asking God to listen to a plea, and the two stand side by side as near-twin requests for him to attend to a cry.Psa 17:1Psa 86:6
Both run in parallel in poetry, the one line echoing the other, so a single call to listen is voiced twice with these two words.Isa 28:23Hos 5:1
Built on the word for ear, it pictures bending the ear toward a speaker, and so it becomes the poet's opening call to an audience to listen up. It often heads a song or speech as a summons to pay attention.Gen 4:23Deu 32:1Isa 1:2
It pairs naturally with seeing and other ways of taking something in, framing listening as one of the senses by which a person receives what is before them.Job 32:11Psa 135:17
qashav in the other biblical languages
προσέχωGreek“to watch out”prosecho is the Greek verb for paying attention or giving heed, the closest counterpart to this word's focused, often obedience-bound attending.
Repeatedly the cry of a worshipper begging God to attend to a prayer, to bend down and take notice of a plea for help.Psa 5:2Psa 17:1Psa 86:6Dan 9:19
A summons to a hearer to listen with the aim of obeying, so that refusing to listen becomes a charge of rebellion against the speaker.Isa 28:23Jer 6:10Jer 6:17Zec 7:11
Both
Both name a deliberate, focused turning of attention toward something, far more than passive hearing: the hearer is asked to fix the mind on what is said and act on it.Pro 4:1Act 8:6
Both can carry a warning charge, where giving heed means taking the message seriously enough to be changed by it.Isa 51:42Pe 1:19
Often means to be on guard, to watch out for a danger and protect yourself from it. The attention is defensive: keep your eyes open so you are not taken in.Mat 7:15Mat 16:6Luk 12:1Act 20:28
Can mean to devote yourself to something, to apply your effort steadily to a task or pursuit, not only to listen but to commit attention over time.1Ti 1:41Ti 4:13Heb 2:1
ἀκούωGreek“to hear”akouo is the general Greek verb to hear; it matches the broad Hebrew verb shama more than this narrower word for attentive listening.
Always means deliberate, attentive listening: pricking up the ears and bending the mind toward the speaker, not merely registering a sound.Pro 4:1Isa 28:23
Is the word of prayer, a plea that God turn his attention and respond, where the very point is focused regard rather than bare perception.Psa 5:2Psa 86:6
Carries the charge to obey what is heard, so that refusing to listen is rebellion, marking it as heeding rather than just hearing.Jer 6:10Zec 7:11
Both
Both name receiving words spoken to a person, and the Greek word is the standard rendering when an Old Testament call to listen is taken up in the New Testament.Isa 32:3Mat 13:16
Both can press beyond the ears to demand a response, the Greek when it means heeding and obeying, the Hebrew always so.Pro 1:24Mat 7:24
Covers ordinary hearing of any kind: catching news, overhearing a report, simply perceiving a sound, with no built-in demand that the listener take it to heart.Mat 2:3Mat 14:1
Stretches to mean understanding what is heard, so that a person can hear sounds yet fail to truly hear, a gap this broad word can name on its own.Mat 13:13Mat 13:15
Reaches into legal and formal settings, such as giving someone a hearing or listening to a charge, a courtroom range the Hebrew word does not cover.Mat 18:15Mat 18:16
What scholars say about qashav
The standard lexica treat the verb as a single sense, attested only in the hiphil (with one qal in Isaiah 32:3). BDB glosses it "give attention, incline (the ears), hearken," and HALOT "to prick up the ears, listen attentively, pay attention." It is consistently distinguished from the general verb of hearing, shama (H8085), and runs in close parallel with azan (H0238, to give ear), the three frequently appearing together in summons-to-hear formulae, especially in wisdom and prophetic literature. The recurring object construction with the ear (incline or turn the ear) underscores that the verb denotes focused, volitional attention; in covenantal and prophetic contexts the attending naturally extends to compliance, so the frequent negation describes refusal to heed and obey. See TWOT and the entry in NIDOTTE on the qsb root.