shama · hear, listen, obey

What it means

shama (שָׁמַע) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “hear, listen, obey”.

Hear, listen. In the Bible listening truly includes paying heed; so it often means "obey". In the causative form, make heard, proclaim.

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 hear a sound, or learn of something.
2. To pay close attention, or heed a plea.
3. To obey: "listen to the voice" of someone.
4. Literally "make hear": to make known to all.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Hear, listen. BDB: to hear intelligently, often with the idea of paying heed and obeying; in the causative form, “make heard”, proclaim. From this verb come names like Ishmael and Simeon.

• To hear a sound or a voice Genesis 3:8Genesis 21:17
• To listen attentively Deuteronomy 6:41 Kings 3:9
• To obey: “listen to the voice of” Genesis 22:18Exodus 19:5
• To make heard, to proclaim Isaiah 52:7

Historical and cultural background

Genesis explains the name Ishmael with this verb: “for YHWH has heard your affliction” (Genesis 16:11).

How we translate it

“Heard” 400 times, “hear” 307, “listen” 277, “listened” 67. This edition keeps “hear” and “listen”, also in שָׁמַע בְּקוֹל, where the sense is to obey: “you listened to my voice” (Genesis 22:18); only a few times does it say “obey”. Deuteronomy 6:4 begins with this verb: “Hear, Israel”.

How it is translated

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

• heard ×400
• hear ×307
• listen ×277
• listened ×67
• hears ×32
• listening ×18
• hearing ×9
• listens ×8
• proclaim ×8
• understand ×7
• others ×26

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×62
• Exodus×49
• Leviticus×7
• Numbers×32
• Deuteronomy×91
• Joshua×27
• Judges×24
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×65
• 2 Samuel×33
• 1 Kings×60
• 2 Kings×43
• 1 Chronicles×14
• 2 Chronicles×48
• Ezra×3
• Nehemiah×28
• Esther×4
• Job×40
• Psalms×79
• Proverbs×30
• Ecclesiastes×8
• Song of Songs×3
• Isaiah×106
• Jeremiah×184
• Lamentations×5
• Ezekiel×51
• Daniel×15
• Hosea×3
• Joel×1
• Amos×10
• Obadiah×1
• Jonah×1
• Micah×9
• Nahum×3
• Habakkuk×3
• Zephaniah×2
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×10
• Malachi×2

• Genesis 3:8

  And they heard the sound of YHWH Elohim walking about in the garden in the wind of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden.

• Genesis 3:10

  And he said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked; and I hid.”

• Genesis 3:17

  And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; with toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

• Genesis 4:23

  And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my saying: for a man I have killed for wounding me, and a young man for striking me.

• Genesis 11:7

  Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that no one will understand the language of his neighbor.”

• Genesis 14:14

  When Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, he called out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

• Genesis 16:2

  Sarai said to Abram, “Look, YHWH has kept me from bearing children. Go in please to my slave woman; perhaps I will have children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

• Genesis 16:11

  And the angel of YHWH said to her, “Look, you are pregnant and will bear a son, and you will call his name Ishmael, for YHWH has heard your affliction.

• Genesis 17:20

  As for Ishmael, I have heard you; look, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He will father twelve chiefs, and I will make him into a great nation.

• Genesis 18:10

  Then he said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and look, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, and it was behind him.

• Genesis 21:6

  Sarah said, “Elohim has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

• Genesis 21:12

  But Elohim said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your eyes on account of the boy and on account of your slave woman. All that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac offspring will be named for you.

• Genesis 21:17

  Elohim heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of Elohim called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for Elohim has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

• Genesis 21:26

  Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; and you also did not tell me, and I too did not hear of it until today.”

• Genesis 22:18

  And through your offspring all the nations of the earth will bless themselves, because you listened to my voice.”

• Genesis 23:6

  “Hear us, my lord: you are a chief of Elohim among us. In the choicest of our graves bury your dead. No one of us will withhold his grave from you for burying your dead.”

• Genesis 23:8

  He spoke with them, saying, “If it is your will that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar,

• Genesis 23:11

  “No, my lord, hear me: the field I give you, and the cave that is in it I give it to you. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.”

• Genesis 23:13

  and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If only you would hear me! I give the silver for the field; take it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

• Genesis 23:15

  “My lord, hear me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, between me and you, what is that? So bury your dead.”

• Genesis 23:16

  Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current among the merchants.

• Genesis 24:30

  When he saw the ring and the bracelets on the hands of his sister, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and look, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

• Genesis 24:52

  When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground to YHWH.

• Genesis 26:5

  because Abraham listened to my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions.”

• Genesis 27:5

  Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.

• Genesis 27:6

  Rebekah said to Jacob her son, “Look, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying,

• Genesis 27:8

  So now, my son, listen to my voice in what I command you.

• Genesis 27:13

  His mother said to him, “On me be your curse, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, get them for me.”

• Genesis 27:34

  When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me too, my father!”

• Genesis 27:43

  So now, my son, listen to my voice: get up, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran,

• Genesis 28:7

  and that Jacob had listened to his father and to his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.

• Genesis 29:13

  When Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, embraced him, kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.

• Genesis 29:33

  She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because YHWH has heard that I am hated, he has given me this one too.” And she called his name Simeon.

• Genesis 30:6

  Rachel said, “Elohim has vindicated me, and he has also heard my voice and given me a son.” That is why she called his name Dan.

• Genesis 30:17

  Elohim heard Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.

• Genesis 30:22

  Elohim remembered Rachel, and Elohim heard her and opened her womb.

• Genesis 31:1

  He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has made all this wealth.”

• Genesis 34:5

  Jacob heard that he had made Dinah his daughter unclean; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came.

• Genesis 34:7

  The sons of Jacob came from the field when they heard it, and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done an outrage in Israel by lying with the daughter of Jacob, and such a thing is not done.

• Genesis 34:17

  But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

And 1119 more times.