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Hebrew

Heaven

שָׁמַיִםStrong’s H8064

shamayim (sha-ma-yim)

Appears in 395 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Shamayim is the Hebrew word usually translated “heavens”, “heaven” and “from heaven”. It appears in 395 verses of the Old Testament.

“Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.”
Daniel 8:8 KJV
Meaning
  1. Heaven, heavens, skyvisible heavens, sky · Heaven (as the abode of God)
How it's translated
  • the heavens 236
  • heavens 51
  • in the heavens 40
  • heaven 34
  • from heaven 15
  • the heavens towards 11
  • heavens your 4
  • and heavens of 4

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Psalms 70
  • Genesis 39
  • Deuteronomy 38
  • Jeremiah 33
  • Isaiah 31
  • 2 Chronicles 25

33 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 395 verses, by book
Leviticus 1
26:19
Ezra 2
1:29:6
Ecclesiastes 5
1:132:33:15:210:20
Lamentations 5
2:13:413:503:664:19
Amos 2
9:29:6
Jonah 1
1:9
Nahum 1
3:16
Habakkuk 1
3:3
Zephaniah 2
1:31:5
Haggai 3
1:102:62:21
Malachi 1
3:10
Hebrew dictionary

שָׁמַיִם shamayim · heaven

1) heaven, heavens, sky 1a) visible heavens, sky 1a1) as abode of the stars 1a2) as the visible universe, the sky, atmosphere, etc 1b) Heaven (as the abode of God) Aramaic equivalent: sha.ma.yin (שָׁמַ֫יִן "heaven" H8065)

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “heaven” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

HEAVEN, noun

hev'n.

  1. The region or expanse which surrounds the earth, and which appears above and around us, like an immense arch or vault, in which are seen the sun, moon and stars.
  2. Among christians, the part of space in which the omnipresent Jehovah is supposed to afford more sensible manifestations of his glory. Deuteronomy 26:15
  3. Among pagans, the residence of the celestial gods.
  4. The sky or air; the region of the atmosphere; or an elevated place; in a very indefinite sense. Jeremiah 9:10Job 35:11“Their cities are walled to heaven” Deuteronomy 1:28
All definitions
  1. The Hebrews acknowledged three heavens; the air or aerial heavens; the firmament in which the stars are supposed to be placed; and the heaven of heavens, or third heaven the residence of Jehovah.
  2. Modern philosophers divide the expanse above and around the earth into two parts, the atmosphere or aerial heaven and the etherial heaven beyond the region of the air, in which there is supposed to be a thin, unresisting medium called ether.
  3. The Supreme Power; the Sovereign of heaven; god; as prophets sent by heaven“I have sinned against heaven” Luke 15:18
  4. The pagan deities; celestials.
  5. Elevation; sublimity.
  6. Supreme felicity; great happiness.

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.