shaal · ask

What it means

shaal (שָׁאַל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “ask”.

Inquire; request.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To ask a question.
2. To ask for something, or borrow.
3. To ask YHWH what to do.
4. To greet, ask how someone is.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To ask, to inquire; hence to request, and sometimes to demand. BDB: to inquire; by implication, to request; by extension, to demand. From this root comes the name Saul, “asked for”.

• Asking someone a question Genesis 32:29Deuteronomy 4:32
• Inquiring of YHWH, consulting him Judges 1:12 Samuel 2:1
• Asking for: “Ask what I shall give you” 1 Kings 3:51 Kings 3:11
• Greeting: asking someone “about {his} welfare” 1 Samuel 25:5

Historical and cultural background

Hannah explains the name of Samuel with this verb: “Because I asked for him from YHWH” (1 Samuel 1:20).

How we translate it

“Asked” 63 times, “ask” 61, “inquired” 15, “asking” 11… English “ask” covers both asking a question and asking for something; שָׁאַל בַּיהוָה is translated “inquire of YHWH” (2 Samuel 2:1) or “asked YHWH” (Judges 1:1).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• asked ×63
• ask ×61
• inquired ×15
• asking ×11
• asks you ×5
• him ×4
• Inquire ×3
• asks ×3
• beg ×1
• borrows an animal ×1
• others ×6

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×13
• Exodus×7
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×8
• Joshua×5
• Judges×14
• 1 Samuel×32
• 2 Samuel×11
• 1 Kings×15
• 2 Kings×6
• 1 Chronicles×6
• 2 Chronicles×6
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×7
• Psalms×10
• Proverbs×2
• Ecclesiastes×2
• Isaiah×7
• Jeremiah×11
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×1
• Jonah×1
• Micah×1
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 24:47

  Then I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her hands.

• Genesis 24:57

  They said, “Let us call the girl and ask her.”

• Genesis 26:7

  The men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful in appearance.”

• Genesis 32:17

  He commanded the first, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you, and where are you going, and whose are these ahead of you?’

• Genesis 32:29

  Jacob asked and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask about my name?” And he blessed him there.

• Genesis 37:15

  A man found him, and look, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

• Genesis 38:21

  He asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the sacred prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?” They said, “There has been no sacred prostitute here.”

• Genesis 40:7

  He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in custody in his lord’s house, saying, “Why are your faces sad today?”

• Genesis 43:7

  They said, “The man asked closely about us and about our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring down your brother’?”

• Genesis 43:27

  He asked them about their well-being and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

• Genesis 44:19

  My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

• Exodus 3:22

  Each woman shall ask of her neighbor and of the woman who resides in her house articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

• Exodus 11:2

  Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let them ask, each man from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.”

• Exodus 12:35

  The sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses: they asked of the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing.

• Exodus 12:36

  And YHWH gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave them what they asked. So they plundered the Egyptians.

• Exodus 13:14

  When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ you shall say to him, ‘With a strong hand YHWH brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slaves.

• Exodus 18:7

  Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him; they asked each other about their welfare, and they went into the tent.

• Exodus 22:14

  When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely repay.

• Numbers 27:21

  And before Eleazar the priest he shall stand, and he shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before YHWH. At his command they shall go out, and at his command they shall come in, he and all the sons of Israel with him, the whole community.”

• Deuteronomy 4:32

  For ask now about the former days that were before you, since the day that Elohim created human beings on the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens: has anything happened like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

• Deuteronomy 6:20

  When your son asks you tomorrow, saying, “What are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules that YHWH our Elohim has commanded you?”

• Deuteronomy 10:12

  And now, Israel, what is YHWH your Elohim asking of you but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul,

• Deuteronomy 13:14

  then you shall seek and investigate and ask thoroughly. And look, if it is true and the matter certain, that this abomination has been done among you,

• Deuteronomy 14:26

  And you shall spend the silver on all that your soul desires: on oxen or on sheep, on wine or on intoxicating drink, or on anything that your soul asks of you; and you shall eat there before YHWH your Elohim and rejoice, you and your household.

• Deuteronomy 18:11

  or a charmer casting spells, or one who consults those who call up the dead, or a spiritist, or one who seeks the dead.

• Deuteronomy 18:16

  according to all that you asked of YHWH your Elohim at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of YHWH my Elohim, and this great fire let me not see anymore, so that I do not die.”

• Deuteronomy 32:7

  Remember the days of old, consider the years of generation and generation; ask your father, and he will declare it to you, your elders, and they will tell you.

• Joshua 4:6

  so that this may be a sign among you. When your sons ask in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones to you?’

• Joshua 4:21

  And he said to the sons of Israel, “When your sons ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’

• Joshua 9:14

  The men took of their provision, but they did not ask the mouth of YHWH.

• Joshua 15:18

  And when she came, she urged him to ask her father for the field. And she got down from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What is the matter with you?”

• Joshua 19:50

  According to the command of YHWH they gave him the city that he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; and he built the city and lived in it.

• Judges 1:1

  After the death of Joshua, the sons of Israel asked YHWH, saying, “Who will go up for us against the Canaanite first, to fight against him?”

• Judges 1:14

  When she came, she urged him to ask her father for the field. She got down from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”

• Judges 4:20

  He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you and says, ‘Is there a man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’”

• Judges 5:25

  Water he asked, milk she gave; in a bowl of nobles she presented curds.

• Judges 8:14

  He captured a young man of the men of Succoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

• Judges 8:24

  Gideon said to them, “Let me ask of you a request: give me each man an earring from his spoil.” For they had earrings of gold, because they were Ishmaelites.

• Judges 8:26

  The weight of the earrings of gold that he requested was a thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents, the pendants, and the garments of purple that were on the kings of Midian, and besides the necklaces that were on the necks of their camels.

• Judges 13:6

  Then the woman came and said to her husband, “A man of Elohim came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of Elohim, very fearsome. And I did not ask him where he was from, and his name he did not tell me.

And 133 more times.