# H7181 - qashab **Strong's:** [H7181](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7181/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** kaw-shab' **Part of speech:** verb (chiefly Hiphil, with Qal and Piel forms) **OT occurrences:** ~46 **Greek equivalent (LXX):** *prosechō* (to attend, apply oneself to), with *enōtizomai* (to give ear) where the idiom is preserved ## Semantic range *Qashab* names the **posture of attention** rather than the event of hearing. The underlying image is physical: ears pricked up and inclined toward a sound, the deliberate orientation of the listener toward a speaker. 1. **To prick up the ears, to incline toward**, the root image, preserved in the noun *qesheb* (attentiveness) and the adjective *qashshab* (attentive). 2. **To give ear, to attend**, the standard sense. Almost always in the Hiphil (*hiqshib*), a causative form that carries the sense of actively directing one's attention rather than passively receiving. 3. **To heed, to take seriously**, the sense shading toward compliance, though *qashab* reaches this by way of attention rather than, as with *shama*, containing obedience within the hearing itself. The verb is heavily concentrated in the prophets and the wisdom literature, and rare in narrative and legal material. That distribution is itself informative: *qashab* is the verb of summons and appeal, used where a speaker is trying to secure a hearing he does not yet have. ## Theological force ### Attention as the precondition of obedience The relationship with [*shama*](/codex/h8085-shama/) (H8085) is the key to the word, and the two are best understood as naming successive stages of one act. - ***Qashab*** is the **posture**: turning toward, inclining the ear, granting attention. - ***Shama*** is the **event**: hearing that, in Hebrew anthropology, terminates in doing. You cannot hear what you have not attended to. *Qashab* names the willingness that makes hearing possible, which is why the prophets use it in the opening summons of an oracle, before the content arrives. The pairing is standard in poetic parallelism: *"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth"* ([Isa 1:2](/codex/isaiah-1-2/)), and the triple stack of [Isa 28:23](/codex/isaiah-28-23/), *"Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech"*. ### The indictment of Saul The single most theologically loaded occurrence. Samuel's verdict in [1 Sam 15:22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/) pairs the two verbs deliberately, that to obey (*shemoa*) is better than sacrifice, and to attend (*lehaqshib*) than the fat of rams. The pairing makes the indictment total. Saul failed at both stages: he did not incline toward the command, and so he did not hear it in the sense that produces action. The construction rules out the excuse that he heard but misjudged. On the Hebrew account, a failure at the level of *qashab* is a failure of the will before it is a failure of understanding, and it is treated as culpable for that reason. See [1 Samuel 15.22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/). ### The wisdom summons In Proverbs the verb belongs to the father-to-son address that opens the instruction sections: *"attend to my wisdom"* ([Proverbs 5:1](/codex/proverbs-5-1/)), *"attend to know understanding"* ([Proverbs 4:1](/codex/proverbs-4-1/)), *"my son, attend to my words"* ([Proverbs 4:20](/codex/proverbs-4-20/)). Wisdom in the Hebrew scriptures is not primarily information transferred but a stance adopted, and *qashab* is the verb of adopting it. The corresponding failure in Proverbs is not stupidity but refusal to attend. ### God as the one who attends The verb is used of God, and the usage carries pastoral weight. In [Malachi 3:16](/codex/malachi-3-16/), the LORD attends and hears those who fear him and speak with one another, and their words are recorded in a book of remembrance. [Psalm 10:17](/codex/psalms-10-17/) has him inclining his ear to the desire of the humble. The same posture the prophets demand of Israel is attributed to God toward the afflicted, which is a deliberate reciprocity: the God who asks to be attended to is the God who attends. ### The prophetic complaint Its most common negative use is the charge that no one attended. [Jeremiah 6:19](/codex/jeremiah-6-19/) has God bringing calamity because they did not attend to his words; [Zechariah 1:4](/codex/zechariah-1-4/) recalls that the former prophets called and the ancestors did not attend. The complaint is precise: the failure is located at the first stage, before comprehension, in the refusal to turn toward the speaker at all. ## Notable verses - **[1 Samuel 15.22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/)**, paired with *shama* in the indictment of Saul, the locus classicus. - **[Isaiah 1.2](/codex/isaiah-1-2/)**, the opening summons of the book, heavens and earth called as covenant witnesses. - **[Isaiah 28.23](/codex/isaiah-28-23/)**, the triple attention-stack introducing the parable of the farmer. - **[Proverbs 4:1](/codex/proverbs-4-1/), [4](/codex/proverbs-4-4/):20, 5:1, 7:24**, the wisdom-instruction summons. - **[Psalm 5:2](/codex/psalms-5-2/)**, a prayer that God would attend to the sound of the petitioner's cry. - **[Psalm 10:17](/codex/psalms-10-17/)**, God inclining his ear to the humble. - **[Malachi 3:16](/codex/malachi-3-16/)**, God attending to those who fear him. - **[Jeremiah 6:19](/codex/jeremiah-6-19/)**, judgment for failure to attend. - **[Zechariah 1:4](/codex/zechariah-1-4/)**, the fathers who did not attend to the former prophets. ## Apologetic and pastoral note The word supplies a precise answer to a common objection about divine hiddenness and unanswered guidance: that if God wanted to be known he would make himself unmissable. The Hebrew scriptures consistently locate the first failure at *qashab*, the refusal to incline toward, rather than at the level of evidence. On this account, the summons is issued and the posture is withheld, which is a claim about the will rather than about the sufficiency of what was said. It also sharpens the distinction between hearing and listening that English blurs, which is useful in teaching contexts. Israel is never charged with having failed to receive sound waves; the charge is that they would not turn their heads. ## See also - [H8085 - shama](/codex/h8085-shama/), *shama*, the paired hearing-verb that carries the obedience sense - [1 Samuel 15.22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/), the verse deploying both verbs against Saul - [Isaiah 1.2](/codex/isaiah-1-2/), the covenant-lawsuit summons - [Isaiah 28.23](/codex/isaiah-28-23/), the triple attention-stack - [Conscience](/codex/conscience/), the faculty this posture engages - [General Revelation](/codex/general-revelation/), the wider question of what has been made available to hear