To cry
שָׁוַעStrong’s H7768shava (sha-va)
Appears in 21 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Shava is the Hebrew word usually translated “cry for help”, “cried for help” and “it cries for help”. It appears in 21 verses of the Old Testament.
“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.”
Meaning
- (Piel) to cry out (for help), shout
How it's translated
- i cry for help 3
- i cried for help 3
- they cry for help 2
- it cries for help 1
- cried for help 1
- i cry out for help 1
- they will cry for help 1
- they cried for help 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 9
- Job 8
- Isaiah 1
- Lamentations 1
- Jonah 1
- Habakkuk 1
6 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Job 24:12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
- Job 29:12Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
- Job 30:20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
- Job 30:28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
- Job 35:9By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
- Job 36:13But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.
Hebrew dictionary
שָׁוַע shava · to cry
(Piel) to cry out (for help), shout
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “cry” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
CRY, verb intransitive
preterit tense and participle passive cried. It ought to be cryed.
- To utter a loud voice; to speak, call or exclaim with vehemence; in a very general sense.
- To call importunately; to utter a loud voice, by way of earnest request of prayer.“The people cried to Pharaoh for bread” Genesis 41:55“The people cried to Moses, and he prayed” Numbers 11:2
- To utter a loud voice in weeping; to utter the voice of sorrow; to lament.“But ye shall cry for sorrow of heart” Isaiah 65:14“Esau cried with a great and bitter cry” Genesis 27:34
- To utter a loud sound in distress; as, Heshbon shall cry Isaiah 15:4“He giveth food to the young raves which cry” Psalms 147:9
All definitions and other forms of “cry”
- To exclaim; to utter a loud voice; with out.“And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out” Luke 9:39
- To proclaim; to utter a loud voice, in giving public notice.“Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem” Jeremiah 2:2
- To bawl; to squall; as a child.
- To yelp, as a dog.“Arise, go to Nineveh, and cry against it” Jonah 1:2
CRY, verb transitive
- To proclaim; to name loudly and publicly for giving notice; as, to cry goods; to cry a lost a child.
- To decry; to depreciate by words or in writing; to dispraise; to condemn.
- To overbear.
- To praise; to applaud; to extol; as, to cry up a mans talents or patriotism, or a womans beauty; to cry up the administration.
- To raise the price by proclamation; as, to cry up certain coins. [Not in use.]
CRY, noun
plural cries.
- In a general sense, a loud sound uttered by the mouth of an animal; applicable to the voice of man or beast, and articulate or inarticulate.
- A loud or vehement sound, uttered in weeping, or lamentation; it may be a shriek or scream.“And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt” Exodus 11:6
- Clamor; outcry; as, war, war, is the public cry“And there arose a great cry” Acts 23:9
- Exclamations of triumph, or wonder, or of other passion.
- Proclamation; public notice.“At midnight there was a cry made” Matthew 25:6
- The notices of hawkers of wares to be sold int he street are called cries; as the cries of London.
- Acclamation; expression of popular favor.
- A loud voice in distress, prayer or request; importunate call.“There was a great cry in Egypt” Exodus 12:30
- Public reports or complaints; noise; fame.
- Bitter complaints of oppression and injustice.
- The sound or voice of irrational animals; expression of joy, fright, alarm, or want; as the cries of fowls, the yell or yelping of dogs, etc.
- A pack of dogs.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.