StrongerBible

shama

שָׁמַע

HebrewH8085“hear, listen, ...”

Appears 1160 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 14:14Gen 16:2Gen 21:12Gen 21:17Gen 23:6Gen 23:8Gen 23:11Gen 23:13Gen 23:15Gen 23:16Gen 24:30Gen 27:8Gen 27:13Gen 27:34Gen 27:43Gen 28:7Gen 29:13Gen 30:17Gen 30:22Gen 31:1Gen 34:7Gen 35:22Gen 37:6Gen 37:21Gen 39:15Gen 39:19Gen 43:25Gen 45:2Gen 49:2 (2×)Exo 2:15Exo 6:9Exo 6:12Exo 15:14Exo 16:7Exo 16:8Exo 16:20Exo 18:19Exo 23:21Lev 26:21Num 12:6Num 14:14Num 14:15Num 14:22Num 16:8Num 20:10Num 23:18Num 30:5(6)Num 30:7(8)Num 30:8(9)Num 30:12(13)
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeshah-MAHverb

What shama means

1

to hear: to take in what reaches the ear, and from there to listen, understand, heed, and answer.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its root this is the plain act of hearing, sound reaching the ear. But in this word hearing is rarely just a fact about the ear. The same verb slides naturally from catching a sound, to paying attention, to grasping what is said, to doing it. That whole range lives in one word, and the context, not a different word, tells you how far along that path a given verse has traveled.

The signature move is the last step: to hear can mean "to obey." To hear a parent, a king, or God is to comply, and a refusal is described not as a hearing problem but as a refusal to hear. This is why Israel's central confession opens with this word ("Hear, O Israel"): it summons not merely to listen but to heed and live by what follows. The same logic runs the other way when God is the one who hears. For God to hear a cry or a prayer is to act on it, to answer, which is why the prophets can charge that God will not hear a guilty people: the silence is judgment, not deafness.

The word also reaches in two further directions that belong to the same core. When something is caused to be heard, it is announced or proclaimed, the report sent out so others take it in. And in a courtroom or council, to hear a case is to give it a fair hearing and decide it.

These are shades of one idea, not separate words, and the move from hearing to obeying is not a quirk of the Hebrew mind: the very same range belongs to the ordinary words for hearing in Akkadian, Aramaic, Arabic, and others, and even to the Greek and Latin words that gave English the word "obey." The thread that holds it together is a person taking in what reaches them and responding, whether the response is understanding, obedience, an answer, or a verdict.

Nuances

1ato hear, to perceive a sound with the ear.
Gen 3:8Gen 3:10Gen 21:17Gen 27:5Exo 32:171Sa 4:141Ki 6:7Ezr 3:13Job 4:16Sng 2:12Ezk 1:24Ezk 3:12
1bto listen, to pay attention to what is being said.
Gen 23:8Num 23:18Job 13:6Job 13:17Job 33:1Psa 34:11Psa 49:1Pro 4:1Pro 7:24Pro 8:32Isa 1:2Isa 28:23
1cto understand, to grasp the sense of what is spoken, including following a language.
Gen 11:7Gen 42:23Deu 28:492Ki 18:26Job 13:1Psa 81:5Isa 33:19Isa 36:11Jer 5:15Ezk 3:6Dan 12:8
1dto obey, to heed and act on what one is told; often phrased as hearing the voice of someone.
Gen 22:18Gen 27:8Gen 27:13Exo 15:26Exo 19:5Exo 24:7Deu 6:3Deu 11:13Deu 28:1Deu 28:2Deu 28:15Jos 1:17
1eto hear favorably, to grant a request or answer a prayer; used of God responding to a cry, and in its negative of God refusing to answer a guilty people.
Gen 16:11Gen 17:20Gen 30:6Exo 3:7Exo 6:5Num 20:16Psa 4:1Psa 6:9Psa 34:17Psa 66:19Psa 145:19Isa 1:15
1fto hear of, to get word or news of something.
Gen 14:14Gen 21:26Gen 29:13Gen 45:16Exo 18:1Deu 4:32Jos 2:10Jos 9:11Sa 4:62Sa 5:17Neh 6:1Neh 13:27
1gto cause to be heard, to proclaim, announce, or sound out a report.
Deu 4:10Psa 26:7Psa 66:8Isa 41:22Isa 42:9Isa 48:20Isa 52:7Jer 4:5Jer 4:16Jer 5:20Jer 50:2Amo 3:9
1hto sound aloud, to make instruments or voices ring out in worship.
1Ch 15:161Ch 15:191Ch 15:281Ch 16:51Ch 16:422Ch 5:13Neh 12:42
1ito give a hearing, to hear a case and judge it in a legal or official setting.
Deu 1:16Deu 1:17Jos 22:30Jdg 11:102Sa 14:162Sa 14:172Sa 15:31Ki 3:91Ki 3:111Ki 8:322Ch 6:23Job 31:35

Disputed

The lexica split over whether "obey" is a distinct sense of the word or simply "listen to" carried to its natural end. BDB and NIDOTTE list "obey" as its own numbered sense; HALOT and Schult's article treat it as a contextual extension of "listen to," charting hear then listen to then comply then obey rather than a separate meaning. The disagreement is about how to map one agreed range, not about what the word does.

  • contested"obey" is a discrete sense, listed alongside hear, perceive, and understand.; BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. שׁמע, pp. 1033-1035; T. Kleven (attrib.), "שׁמע," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE) 4 (1997)
  • contested"obey" is not a separate sense but "listen to" extended by context, generated by the constructions that mark the object.; HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. שׁמע; H. Schult, "שׁמע," in Theologisches Handworterbuch zum Alten Testament (THAT) II (1976), cols. 974-982 = TLOT 3
2

to summon, to muster troops together for war.

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintyStrong

In two verses about Saul the word is used in a different and narrowly military way: to call up an army, gathering and numbering the troops for battle. This is not the same idea as hearing, and it is not the announcing sense either. It is a specialized usage, built off the noun for a report or call to arms, that the standard lexica treat as its own distinct use of the word.

Because it sits apart from the word's main range, and rests on only these two passages, it is kept as a separate entry rather than folded in with hearing.

1Sa 15:41Sa 23:8

What scholars say about shama

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH, Gesenius 18th ed.) and the theological dictionaries (TDOT, TLOT, NIDOTTE, TWOT) treat this as a single verb with a connected range rather than as homonyms. The core is hearing; from it develop listening or paying attention, understanding (including following a language), heeding or obeying, and, when God is the subject, hearing favorably, that is, answering prayer, with the negative used of God refusing to answer guilt. The causative is to cause to be heard, hence to proclaim or announce, with a special use in the Chronicler for sounding instruments in worship; a denominative use in two Saul passages means to muster troops. The central methodological point, made by H. Schult (THAT/TLOT) and echoed by HALOT and Gesenius 18, is that the move from hearing to obeying is licensed by the constructions that mark the object (hearing in or with the voice of someone, hearing to a person) and is not a peculiarly Hebrew metaphysics of sound: the same range is shared across Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Arabic, Sabaic, and Ge'ez, and mirrored in Greek and Latin words for obeying. James Barr's critique of Thorleif Boman dismantled the older claim that Hebrew structurally privileges hearing; what is distinctive is the literary architecture built around the word, above all Deuteronomy's transformation of it into the master verb of covenant, the prophetic indictment of a people who will not hear, and the Psalter's reciprocal plea that God himself hear. Moshe Weinfeld and Jeffrey Tigay set the covenant use within ancient treaty language; Patrick Miller shows that when God is the subject, to hear is to act in deliverance; S. D. McBride and Daniel Block read the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) as a summons to undivided covenant allegiance.

Where scholars disagree about shama

The grammar of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) is one of the most debated lines in the Hebrew Bible, because the words have no stated verb and can be joined several ways. Daniel Block catalogues five renderings. The two most influential are the traditional confession of God's oneness, "the LORD our God, the LORD is one," reflected already in the Greek Old Testament and the New Testament; and a confession of exclusive loyalty, "the LORD is our God, the LORD alone," which reads the last word as meaning him only and not numerical oneness. Most recent commentators favor the loyalty reading, while noting the unity reading is ancient and liturgically settled.

  • minority"The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (or "is one LORD"): a statement of the oneness or unity of God.; Septuagint and Mark 12:29 (cited in Daniel I. Block, JETS 47/2 [2004]: 193-212); Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11, Anchor Bible 5 (Doubleday, 1991)
  • majority"The LORD is our God, the LORD alone": a demand for exclusive covenant loyalty rather than a statement about numerical oneness.; Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Torah Commentary (1996), pp. 76, 438-441; Daniel I. Block, "How Many is God?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47/2 (2004): 193-212; S. Dean McBride, "The Yoke of the Kingdom," Interpretation 27 (1973): 273-306
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), s.v. שׁמע, pp. 1033-1035lexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. שׁמעlexicon
  • DCH (D. J. A. Clines, ed.), The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, s.v. שׁמעlexicon
  • Wilhelm Gesenius, Hebraisches und Aramaisches Handworterbuch uber das Alte Testament, 18th ed. (1987-2010), s.v. שׁמעlexicon
  • H. Schult, "שׁמע," in Theologisches Handworterbuch zum Alten Testament (THAT) II (1976), cols. 974-982 = Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT) 3dictionary
  • Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), s.v. שׁמעdictionary
  • New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE) 4 (1997), s.v. שׁמעdictionary
  • James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford, 1961)monograph
  • Patrick D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Fortress, 1994)monograph
  • Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11, Anchor Bible 5 (Doubleday, 1991)commentary
  • Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Torah Commentary (1996)commentary
  • S. Dean McBride, "The Yoke of the Kingdom: An Exposition of Deuteronomy 6:4-5," Interpretation 27 (1973): 273-306article
  • Daniel I. Block, "How Many is God? An Investigation into the Meaning of Deuteronomy 6:4-5," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 47/2 (2004): 193-212article

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of שָׁמַע

qal infinitive-construct construct

שְׁמֹעַ, שָׁמְע, שְׁמוֹעַ, שָׁמְעֲ, שְּׁמוֹעַ, שָׁמְעָ, שְּׁמֹעַ, שָׁמְעִ, שָׁמְעָת

Gen 27:34, Gen 29:13, Gen 39:19, Exo 16:8, Lev 26:21, Num 30:8, Deu 5:25, Deu 17:12

qal imperative 2mp

שִׁמְעוּ, שְׁמָעוּ, שֲׁמָעוּ

Gen 37:6, Gen 49:2, Gen 49:2, Num 12:6, Num 16:8, Num 20:10, Jos 3:9, Jdg 5:3

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּשְׁמַע, וַיִּשְׁמָע

Gen 14:14, Gen 16:2, Gen 21:17, Gen 23:16, Gen 28:7, Gen 30:17, Gen 30:22, Gen 31:1

qal imperative 2ms

שְׁמַע, שִׁמְעָ, שְׁמָעֵ, שֲׁמָע, שְׁמָע, שְּׁמָע, שְׁמָעֶ, שְׁמָעָ

Gen 21:12, Gen 27:8, Gen 27:13, Gen 27:43, Exo 18:19, Exo 23:21, Deu 4:1, Deu 5:1

qal perfect 3cp

שָׁמְעוּ, שָׁמֵעוּ

Gen 43:25, Exo 6:9, Exo 6:12, Exo 15:14, Exo 16:20, Num 14:14, Num 14:15, Num 14:22

qal perfect 3ms

שָׁמַע, שָׁמֵעַ

Gen 16:11, Gen 21:17, Gen 24:52, Gen 26:5, Gen 29:33, Gen 30:6, Gen 34:5, Gen 39:10

qal perfect 1cs

שָׁמַעְתִּי, שָׁמָעְתִּי, שְׁמַעְתִּי

Gen 3:10, Gen 21:26, Gen 27:6, Gen 37:17, Gen 41:15, Gen 42:2, Exo 3:7, Exo 6:5

qal imperfect 2ms

תִּשְׁמַע, תִּשְׁמָע

Gen 41:15, Exo 15:26, Exo 23:22, Deu 13:3, Deu 13:8, Deu 13:12, Deu 13:18, Deu 15:5

qal participle m s absolute

שֹׁמֵעַ, שֹּׁמֵעַ, וְשׁוֹמֵעַ, שׁוֹמֵעַ

Gen 42:23, Exo 32:18, Deu 21:18, Deu 21:20, Jdg 11:10, 1Sa 2:23, 1Sa 2:24, 1Sa 3:9

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ

Gen 3:8, Gen 34:24, Gen 37:27, Gen 45:2, Exo 4:31, Deu 34:9, Jos 9:16, Jos 22:11

qal imperfect 3ms

יִשְׁמַע, יִשְׁמָע, יִשְׁמָעֵ

Exo 6:30, Exo 7:4, Exo 11:9, Deu 18:19, Deu 21:18, Jos 1:18, 1Sa 26:19, 1Sa 30:24

qal imperfect 3mp

יִשְׁמְעוּ, יִשְׁמָעוּ

Gen 11:7, Exo 4:1, Exo 4:8, Exo 4:9, Deu 2:25, Deu 4:6, Deu 4:28, Deu 13:11

qal perfect 2ms

שָׁמַעְתָּ, שָׁמָעְתָּ, שְׁמַעְתָּ

Gen 3:17, Gen 22:18, Exo 7:16, Deu 4:33, Deu 4:36, Deu 9:2, Deu 28:45, Deu 28:62

qal imperfect 2mp

תִּשְׁמְעוּ, תִּשְׁמָעוּ

Gen 34:17, Exo 19:5, Lev 26:14, Lev 26:18, Lev 26:27, Deu 7:12, Deu 8:20, Deu 11:13

qal perfect 1cp

שָׁמַעְנוּ, שָׁמָעְנוּ, שְׁמַעֲנוּ

Deu 5:24, Jos 1:17, Jos 2:10, Jos 9:9, 2Sa 7:22, 1Ki 20:31, 1Ch 17:20, Job 28:22

qal perfect 2mp

שְׁמַעְתֶּם

Gen 42:22, Deu 1:43, Deu 9:23, Jdg 2:2, Jdg 6:10, 1Ki 1:45, Isa 65:12, Jer 3:13

qal consecutive-perfect 2ms

וְשָׁמַעְתָּ, וְשָׁמָעְתָּ

Deu 4:30, Deu 6:3, Deu 12:28, Deu 27:10, Deu 30:2, Deu 30:8, Jdg 7:11, 1Ki 8:30

qal infinitive-absolute absolute

שָׁמוֹעַ, שָׁמֹעַ

Exo 15:26, Exo 19:5, Deu 15:5, Deu 28:1, Job 13:17, Job 21:2, Job 37:2, Isa 6:9

niphal perfect 3ms

נִשְׁמַע, נִשְׁמָע

Gen 45:16, Deu 4:32, 1Ki 6:7, Ezr 3:13, Neh 6:1, Neh 13:27, Sng 2:12, Isa 15:4

hiphil imperative 2mp

הַשְׁמִיעוּ, הַשְׁמִיעֻ

Psa 66:8, Isa 48:20, Jer 4:5, Jer 4:16, Jer 5:20, Jer 31:7, Jer 46:14, Jer 46:14

qal imperfect 1cs

אֶשְׁמָע, אֶשְׁמַע

Job 4:16, Job 20:3, Job 33:8, Psa 38:13, Psa 81:5, Isa 65:24, Jer 22:21, Amo 5:23

qal consecutive-imperfect 1cs

וָאֶשְׁמַע, וָאֶשְׁמְעָ, וָאֶשְׁמָע

1Sa 15:24, 1Sa 28:21, Isa 6:8, Ezk 1:24, Ezk 1:28, Ezk 2:2, Ezk 3:12, Ezk 43:6

qal participle m p absolute

שֹׁמְעִים, שֹּׁמְעִים

Deu 4:12, 2Ki 10:6, 2Ki 18:26, 2Ch 9:7, Isa 32:3, Isa 36:11, Jer 32:33, Jer 44:16

niphal imperfect 3ms

יִשָּׁמַע, יִשָּׁמֵעַ

Exo 23:13, Neh 6:7, Job 37:4, Isa 60:18, Isa 65:19, Jer 6:7, Jer 33:10, Ezk 19:9

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְשָׁמַע

Num 30:4, Num 30:7, Num 30:11, 1Sa 2:22, 1Sa 16:2, 2Sa 16:21, 2Sa 17:9, 2Ki 19:7

qal jussive 2mp

תִּשְׁמְעוּ

2Ki 18:31, 2Ki 18:32, Isa 36:16, Jer 23:16, Jer 27:9, Jer 27:14, Jer 27:16, Jer 27:17

qal perfect 3fs

שָׁמְעָה

Jos 24:27, Rut 1:6, 1Sa 28:21, 2Ki 9:30, 2Ch 9:1, Job 13:1, Job 29:11, Psa 97:8

hiphil participle m s absolute

מַשְׁמִיעַ

1Ch 16:5, Isa 41:26, Isa 52:7, Isa 52:7, Jer 4:15, Nam 1:15

hiphil perfect 3ms

הִשְׁמִיעַ, הִשְׁמִיעֲ, הִשְׁמִיעָ

1Ki 15:22, 2Ki 7:6, Isa 45:21, Isa 62:11, Deu 4:36, Jdg 13:23

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְשָׁמְעוּ

Exo 3:18, Num 14:13, Psa 141:6, Isa 29:18, Ezk 33:31, Ezk 33:32

qal imperative 2fs

שִׁמְעִי

Psa 45:10, Isa 47:8, Isa 51:21, Jer 6:19, Jer 22:29, Ezk 16:35

qal imperfect 1cp

נִשְׁמַע, נִשְׁמָע

Jos 1:17, Job 26:14, Jer 42:6, Jos 24:24, Jer 42:6, Jer 42:14

qal participle f s absolute

שֹׁמַעַת, שֹׁמָעַת

Gen 18:10, Gen 27:5, 1Ki 10:1, Pro 20:12, Pro 25:12

qal participle m s construct

שֹׁמְעָ, שֹׁמֵעַ, שֹׁמְע

2Ki 21:12, Jer 19:3, Num 24:4, Num 24:16, 1Sa 3:11

hiphil infinitive-construct construct

הַשְׁמִיעַ, שְׁמִעַ

1Ch 15:19, 2Ch 5:13, Isa 58:4, Psa 26:7

qal conjunctive-imperfect 3ms

וְיִשְׁמַע, וְיִשְׁמָעֶ

Jdg 9:7, Isa 42:23, Jer 23:18, Job 22:27

qal consecutive-imperfect 3fs

וַתִּשְׁמַע

1Sa 4:19, 2Sa 11:26, 2Ki 11:13, 2Ch 23:12

qal perfect 2fs

שָׁמַעַתְּ

Rut 2:8, 1Ki 1:11, Jer 4:19, Jer 22:21

hiphil conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאַשְׁמִיעֲ, וְאַשְׁמִיעֵ, וְאַשְׁמִעֵ

1Sa 9:27, Isa 48:3, Deu 4:10

hiphil imperfect 1cs

אַשְׁמִיע, אַשְׁמִיעֲ, אַשְׁמִיעַ

Isa 42:9, Jer 18:2, Ezk 36:15

50 further parsings are listed under Syntax.