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Word study

Hebrew

To hear

שָׁמַעStrong’s H8085

shama (sha-ma)

Appears in 1,073 verses of the Old Testament

In short

To hear in a way that leads to doing: to listen and obey. Israel's daily confession begins with it: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4).

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”
Deuteronomy 6:4 KJV
Meaning
  1. To hear, listen to, obey(Qal) · (Niphal) · (Piel) to cause to hear, call to hear, summon · (Hiphil)
How it's translated
  • hear 99
  • and he heard 61
  • listen 61
  • i have heard 34
  • you will listen 32
  • to listen 31
  • they listened 29
  • when heard 28

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

Where it's used most
  • Jeremiah 168
  • Isaiah 95
  • Deuteronomy 83
  • Psalms 78
  • 1 Samuel 60
  • Genesis 58

39 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 1,073 verses, by book
Ruth 2
1:62:8
Song of Solomon 3
2:122:148:13
Lamentations 4
1:181:213:563:61
Hosea 3
4:15:19:17
Joel 1
1:2
Obadiah 1
1:1
Jonah 1
2:2
Habakkuk 3
1:23:23:16
Zephaniah 2
2:83:2
Haggai 1
1:12
Malachi 2
2:23:16
Hebrew dictionary

שָׁמַע shama · to hear

: hear v 1) to hear, listen to, obey 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to hear (perceive by ear) 1a2) to hear of or concerning 1a3) to hear (have power to hear) 1a4) to hear with attention or interest, listen to 1a5) to understand (language) 1a6) to hear (of judicial cases) 1a7) to listen, give heed 1a7a) to consent, agree 1a7b) to grant request 1a8) to listen to, yield to 1a9) to obey, be obedient 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be heard (of voice or sound) 1b2) to be heard of 1b3) to be regarded, be obeyed 1c) (Piel) to cause to hear, call to hear, summon 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to cause to hear, tell, proclaim, utter a sound …

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

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

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

HEAR, verb transitive

preterit tense and participle passive heard, but more correctly heared.

  1. To perceive by the ear; to feel an impression of sound by the proper organs; as, to hear sound; to hear a voice; to hear words.
  2. To give audience or allowance to speak.“He sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ” Acts 24:24
  3. To attend; to listen; to obey.
  4. To attend favorably; to regard.“They think they shall be heard for their much speaking” Matthew 6:7
All definitions and other forms of “hear”
  1. To grant an answer to prayer.“I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice” Psalms 116:1
  2. To attend to the facts, evidence, and arguments in a cause between parties; to try in a court of law or equity. Song of Solomon 2:14
  3. To acknowledge a title; a Latin phrase.
  4. To be a hearer of; to sit under the preaching of; as, what minister do you hear? [A colloquial use of the word.]
  5. To learn.“I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him” John 8:26
  6. To approve and embrace.

HEAR, verb intransitive

To enjoy the sense or faculty of perceiving sound. He is deaf, he cannot hear

  1. To listen; to hearken; to attend.
  2. To be told; to receive by report.“I hear there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it” 1 Corinthians 11:18

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.