to look at something with fixed attention: to behold, gaze at, or keep watch on it
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
The verb transliterated "shur" is a rare and poetic word for looking. It belongs almost entirely to the book of Job and to the oracles of Balaam, and it lends those passages a heightened, watchful tone that the everyday word for seeing would not.
Its range runs from simply catching sight of something, to regarding it with care, to keeping a steady watch on it. Where the common verb רָאָה is the all-purpose word for seeing, and חָזָה leans toward the seer's vision, this word pictures a deliberate gaze: the eye that fastens on its object and holds it.
That watchful quality gives the word an edge. In a few places it describes not friendly looking but the patient stare of a hunter waiting to strike, and in Balaam's oracles it is the prophet straining to make out Israel from the distant hilltops.
Nuances
1ato see or catch sight of someone or something, as a lofty, poetic word for the eye's seeing
TranslatabilityDirect
Num 23:9Num 24:17Job 7:8Job 17:15Job 20:9Job 24:15Job 34:29Job 35:5Job 35:14
1bto regard or pay heed to someone or something, giving it attention rather than merely seeing it
Job 33:14Job 33:27*Job 35:13Hos 14:8(9)*
1cto keep watch like a hunter, lying in wait to catch someone
to direct one's gaze toward something, often as a command to turn and look at a particular objectGen 15:5Num 21:9
used of God looking down from heaven to observe and assess peoplePsa 33:13Psa 102:19
to regard with favor or attention, looking on someone with care or appraisal1Sa 16:7Psa 84:9
צָפָהthe watchman's keeping lookout; closest to this word where it means keeping watch or lying in wait.
shur in the other biblical languages
ὁράωGreek“to see: see”the general Greek verb for seeing and perceiving; Greek has no single poetic counterpart, so it uses ordinary seeing verbs where Hebrew reaches for this heightened word.
What scholars say about shur
This is a poetic verb meaning "to behold, regard, look at," concentrated in Job and the Balaam oracles (Num 23:9; 24:17), where it functions as a heightened synonym of רָאָה and חָזָה (HALOT; BDB). The standard lexica agree on this core sense; the lexical difficulty lies at the margins. The uses in Jeremiah 5:26 and Hosea 13:7, describing predatory lying-in-wait, are treated variously: some retain them under "to watch, keep watch" as a contextual extension, while others connect them to a separate root associated with hostility and ambush (compare the participle שׁוֹרֵר, "watchful foe," in the Psalms). Hosea 14:8 ("I have looked on him and will watch over him") and the debated verbal form in Job 33:27 add textual and interpretive wrinkles. DCH catalogs the full range.