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shamayin

שָׁמַיִן

AramaicH8065heaven, sky, ...

Appears 38 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Ezr 5:11Ezr 5:12Ezr 6:9Ezr 6:10Ezr 7:12Ezr 7:21Ezr 7:23 (2×)Jer 10:11 (2×)Dan 2:18Dan 2:19
Word studyshah-MAH-yinnoun

What shamayin means

heaven: the expanse above the earth, both the visible sky and the dwelling and rule of God

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is the Aramaic word for heaven, the close cousin of the common Hebrew word for the same thing. It appears only in the Aramaic parts of the Bible, in Ezra, Daniel, and one line of Jeremiah, and it always shows up in the same plural form that simply means the heavens.

Its range runs along one continuous line, from the sky you can see to the God you cannot. At the near end it is the open expanse overhead: the place where birds nest, where dew and wind and clouds come from, the height a great tree or a great empire is pictured reaching toward. At the far end it is where God lives and reigns, the place from which he sends his decrees and his messengers, and the source of the title used again and again in these books, the God of heaven.

The two are not separate words but two ends of one idea. Ancient readers looked up at the sky and understood it as the floor of God's own realm, so the same word names both. That is why a phrase like the birds of heaven and a phrase like the God of heaven sit comfortably side by side.

One step further, the word can stand in for God himself. When Daniel says that Heaven rules, he means that God rules, using the place as a respectful way to name the King without saying his name outright. This is the same habit of speech that later grows into the New Testament phrase the kingdom of heaven.

Nuances

1athe visible sky: the expanse overhead where birds fly and dew, wind, and clouds come from, and which pairs with the earth as the created world
Jer 10:11 (2×)Dan 2:38Dan 4:11Dan 4:12Dan 4:15Dan 4:20Dan 4:21Dan 4:22Dan 4:23Dan 4:25Dan 4:33Dan 5:21
1bheaven as God's dwelling and rule: the seat from which he governs, sends messengers and decrees, and by which he is named the God of heaven
Ezr 5:11Ezr 5:12Ezr 6:9Ezr 6:10Ezr 7:12Ezr 7:21Ezr 7:23 (2×)Dan 2:18Dan 2:19Dan 2:28Dan 2:37Dan 2:44
1cHeaven as a reverent name for God himself: the place standing in for the King so his name need not be spoken
Dan 4:26

What scholars say about shamayin

The standard lexica treat this as the Biblical Aramaic cognate of Hebrew shamayim, the ordinary word for the heavens; here it occurs only in the determined plural form and only in the Aramaic material of Ezra, Daniel, and Jeremiah 10:11. Its range covers the physical firmament (source of dew, wind, and clouds, home of the birds, and the counterpart of earth) and, by extension, the abode and government of God, especially in the recurrent Persian-period title the God of heaven. Daniel 4:26 attests the reverent metonymy in which heaven denotes God himself, a usage that stands behind the later kingdom of heaven. Commentators on Daniel and Ezra discuss the God of heaven title as characteristic of the Achaemenid administrative context, without dispute over the word's basic sense.

Sources

  • Koehler, Baumgartner, and Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), Aramaic section, s.v. שְׁמַיִןlexicon
  • Brown, Driver, and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB), Biblical Aramaic appendix, s.v. שְׁמַיִןlexicon
  • G. J. Botterwick and H. Ringgren, eds., Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. 15, s.v. שָׁמַיִםtheological-dictionary
  • John J. Collins, Daniel, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1993)commentary

All attested forms of שָׁמַיִן

m p determined

שְׁמַיָּא

Ezr 5:11, Ezr 5:12, Ezr 6:9, Ezr 6:10, Ezr 7:12, Ezr 7:21, Ezr 7:23, Ezr 7:23