# H8085 - shama

<!-- type: lexicon | created: 2026-05-31 | updated: 2026-05-31 -->

**Strong's:** [H8085](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h8085/) · BLB lookup
**Pronunciation:** shaw-mah'
**Part of speech:** verb (Qal, Niphal, Piel, Hiphil)
**OT occurrences:** ~1,159 (one of the most frequent verbs in the Hebrew Bible)
**Greek equivalent (LXX):** *akouō* (G0191), with cognate *hupakouō* (G5219, "to obey") where the obedience-sense is foregrounded

## Semantic range

The Hebrew *shama* spans an integrated three-sense field that English splits across separate verbs:

1. **To hear**, sensory perception. The auditory uptake of a sound. *"Adam heard the voice of YHWH walking in the garden"* ([Gen 3:8](/codex/genesis-3-8/)).
2. **To listen, to give ear, to attend**, focused auditory uptake, often paired with *qashab* (H7181, "give attention") or with *aznayim* ("ears"). The active receptive stance.
3. **To heed, to obey, to comply**, the *hearing-with-response* sense, in which hearing *terminates in doing*. *"All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will hear"* ([Ex 24:7](/codex/exodus-24-7/)), the Hebrew construction *na'aseh ve-nishma* ("we will do and we will hear") makes the *doing* and the *hearing* a single covenant-response.

The three senses are not separable Hebrew sub-verbs but a unified semantic field. *Shama* in the imperative ("Hear!") simultaneously commands attention *and* compliance; in Hebrew anthropology, real hearing terminates in action, and *not-doing* is treated as *not-having-heard*.

The Hiphil ("cause to hear" / "proclaim") and Niphal ("be heard" / "be reported") extend the field to *making-known* and *being-made-known*.

## Theological force

### Hearing-is-obeying: the Hebrew anthropology

Hebrew anthropology does not split *hearing* and *obeying* the way modern Western anthropology splits *information uptake* from *behavioral response*. The same verb covers both. To genuinely *hear* the word of YHWH is, by definition, to act on it. Disobedience is described in Hebrew as *not hearing*, not as *hearing-and-then-refusing*.

This shows up structurally in Israel's covenant theology:

- **Disobedience = not hearing.** *"They did not hearken"* ([Jer 7:24-26](/codex/jeremiah-7-24-26/); 11:8; 25:3-4) is the prophetic indictment-formula; it does not name a separate moral failure (refusal-after-comprehension) but treats failure-to-comply as failure-to-hear in the strong sense.
- **Obedience = hearing.** *"If you will diligently hearken"* (*shamoa tishma*, infinitive-absolute construction, [Ex 15:26](/codex/exodus-15-26/); [Deut 11:13](/codex/deuteronomy-11-13/); 28:1) names the whole covenant-response as a hearing-event.
- **Curse = closed ear.** [Isa 6:9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/)'s *"keep on hearing but do not understand"* (*shimu shamoa*) is the judicial-hardening that severs the hearing-action link from the inside.

The NT preserves this anthropology. *"He who has ears to hear, let him hear"* ([Mt 11:15](/codex/matthew-11-15/); 13:9; [Mk 4:9](/codex/mark-4-9/); etc.) does not invite passive auditory uptake; it summons the hearing-that-acts. [James 1:22](/codex/james-1-22/), *"prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers"*, works *against* a Hellenistic split that the Hebrew *shama* tradition did not natively allow.

### The Shema

The single most consequential occurrence of *shama* is the imperative that opens [Deut 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/):

> *שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָד*
> *Shema Yisrael, YHWH eloheinu, YHWH echad*
> *"Hear, O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one."*

The confession **is named for this verb**. *Shema* (Qal imperative 2ms) opens the verse and becomes the title of the prayer; the prayer's name *is* the imperative *Hear!* Israel's identity-confession is structured not as a proposition-to-be-affirmed but as a *summons-to-hear* that, in Hebrew anthropology, is a *summons-to-do*.

The structure binds three things together in a single hearing-event: (1) the confession of YHWH's oneness ([*echad*](/codex/h0259-echad/)); (2) the love-command of [Deut 6:5](/codex/deuteronomy-6-5/) (*"you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart"*); (3) the teach-them-to-your-children command of [Deut 6:6-9](/codex/deuteronomy-6-6-9/). The hearing that does not produce *love and transmission* has not, on Hebrew grammar, hearkened.

See [Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/) for the full Shema treatment.

### "To obey is better than sacrifice"

The strongest single-verse statement of the hearing-is-obeying anthropology is **Samuel's word to Saul** at [1 Samuel 15.22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/):

> *"Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."* ([1 Sam 15:22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/), ASV)

The Hebrew uses *shama* twice: *bishmoa be-qol YHWH* ("in hearing the voice of YHWH") and *u-le-haqshib* (from *qashab*), Samuel pairs the two attention-verbs to indict Saul. Saul *did* the sacrifice; he *did not* hear. The verse names the ritual-without-obedience pattern as the diagnostic of false religion across the prophets ([Hos 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/); [Mic 6:6-8](/codex/micah-6-6-8/); [Isa 1:11-17](/codex/isaiah-1-11-17/); [Jer 7:21-24](/codex/jeremiah-7-21-24/); [Amos 5:21-24](/codex/amos-5-21-24/)).

### The Servant's listening ear ([Isa 50:4](/codex/isaiah-50-4/))

[Isa 50:4](/codex/isaiah-50-4/) (the third Servant Song):

> *"He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught."* ([Isa 50:4b](/codex/isaiah-50-4/), ASV)

The Servant of YHWH is presented as the perfectly *hearing* one, the one whose ear YHWH opens each morning to receive the day's word. The Christian-canonical reading hears this fulfilled in [Christ](/codex/jesus/)'s prayed-down dependence on the Father ([Jn 5:19](/codex/john-5-19/), [30](/codex/john-5-30/); 8:28; 12:49). The Servant's perfect *shama* is the new-Adam reversal of Eden's failure-to-hear.

### The hardening commission ([Isa 6:9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/))

[Isa 6:9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/) deploys *shama* in a paradoxical judicial-hardening pronouncement:

> *"Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not."* ([Isa 6:9](/codex/isaiah-6-9/), ASV)

The construction *shimu shamoa* (infinitive-absolute + imperative) intensifies the verb: *hear-and-keep-hearing*, but the hearing-action terminus is severed by judicial sentence. The verse is the OT root of NT statements about hardening ([Mt 13:14-15](/codex/matthew-13-14-15/); [Mk 4:12](/codex/mark-4-12/); [Lk 8:10](/codex/luke-8-10/); [Jn 12:40](/codex/john-12-40/); [Acts 28:26-27](/codex/acts-28-26-27/); [Rom 11:8](/codex/romans-11-8/)). The lexical pivot is *shama* itself: judicial hardening is described as *hearing-that-does-not-terminate-in-doing*, the inversion of the Hebrew norm.

## *Shama* vs. *qashab* (H7181)

Where *shama* is the broad hearing-verb covering perception → attention → compliance, *qashab* foregrounds the *attentiveness* sense (give ear, incline, attend). The two often pair in poetic parallelism, [Isa 1:2](/codex/isaiah-1-2/) (*shimu... ha'azini*), [Isa 28:23](/codex/isaiah-28-23/) (*ha'azinu... shimu... haqshivu*), where *qashab* names the *posture* and *shama* names the *event*. [1 Sam 15:22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/) deploys both verbs side by side: the indictment of Saul names a failure both in posture (*qashab*) and in event (*shama*).

## Apologetic / epistemological significance

*Shama* anchors:

1. **The Shema** as Israel's foundational confession and Christ's affirmed "first commandment" ([Mk 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/)).
2. **Christian anthropology of the will**, hearing-and-doing as a single response, against an information-vs-action split that the OT lexicon does not natively support.
3. **Covenant theology**, the formula "if you will diligently hearken" structures the blessing-and-curse pattern of [Deut 28](/codex/deuteronomy-28/); [Lev 26](/codex/leviticus-26/); the covenant is a *hearing-relationship*.
4. **The doctrine of judicial hardening**, [Isa 6:9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/), root of [Romans 9](/codex/romans-9/)-11, John 12, [Acts 28](/codex/acts-28/); God's hardening is the severance of the hearing-action terminus.
5. **The pastoral diagnostic**, *what we do* reveals *what we have heard*; ritual-without-obedience is the prophetic diagnostic of false religion.
6. **Christology**, the Servant's perfect hearing ([Isa 50:4](/codex/isaiah-50-4/)); Christ as the listening Son ([Jn 5:19](/codex/john-5-19/), [30](/codex/john-5-30/)); the new-Adam reversal of Eden's failure to hear.

## Notable verses

### The Shema and covenant-hearing
- **[Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/)**, *Shema Yisrael*, Israel's foundational confession
- **[Deut 5:1](/codex/deuteronomy-5-1/)**, *"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances"*, opens the Decalogue rehearsal
- **[Deut 11:13](/codex/deuteronomy-11-13/); 28:1**, *shamoa tishma*, the if-you-diligently-hearken covenant-formula
- **[Mk 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/)**, Jesus quoting *"Hear, O Israel"*

### Hearing as covenant-response
- **[Ex 24:7](/codex/exodus-24-7/)**, *na'aseh ve-nishma*, *"all that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will hear"*
- **[Deut 5:27](/codex/deuteronomy-5-27/)**, *"speak unto us all that Jehovah our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it"*
- **[1 Sam 3:9-10](/codex/1-samuel-3-9-10/)**, *"speak, Jehovah; for thy servant heareth"*, Samuel's call

### Obedience-as-hearing prophetic indictment
- **[1 Samuel 15.22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/)**, *"to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams"*
- **[Jer 7:23](/codex/jeremiah-7-23/)**, *"Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God"*
- **[Jer 11:4](/codex/jeremiah-11-4/)**, the covenant-renewal formula
- **[Hos 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/)**; **[Amos 5:21-24](/codex/amos-5-21-24/)**; **[Mic 6:6-8](/codex/micah-6-6-8/)**, ritual-without-hearing critique

### Judicial hardening / closed ear
- **[Isa 6:9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/)**, *shimu shamoa*, the hardening commission
- **[Ezek 3:27](/codex/ezekiel-3-27/)**, *"he that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear"*
- **[Mt 13:14-15](/codex/matthew-13-14-15/); [Acts 28:26-27](/codex/acts-28-26-27/)**, NT citations

### The Servant's hearing
- **[Isaiah 50.4](/codex/isaiah-50-4/)**, *"he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught"*
- **[Isa 55:1-3](/codex/isaiah-55-1-3/)**, *"incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live"*

### Cosmic summons-to-hear
- **[Isaiah 1.2](/codex/isaiah-1-2/)**, *"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth"*, the covenant-lawsuit opening
- **[Mic 6:1-2](/codex/micah-6-1-2/)**, *"Hear ye what Jehovah saith... hear, O ye mountains"*, parallel covenant-lawsuit

## Patristic / scholarly note

The patristic and Reformed traditions preserve the Hebrew *shama* anthropology. **Augustine** (*Tractates on John* 26.3-4), develops *audire* (Lat. "to hear") as the proper response to the *verbum Dei*; faith comes by hearing ([Rom 10:17](/codex/romans-10-17/)). **Calvin** (*Institutes* III.2.6), the *verbum externum* (external word preached) is the instrumental cause of faith; hearing is not bare auditory uptake but Spirit-quickened reception. **Karl Barth** (*Church Dogmatics* I.1 §4), the Word of God is *received in hearing*; theology's first posture is *Hörbereitschaft* (readiness-to-hear).

The Jewish liturgical tradition preserves the Shema as the central daily confession (recited morning and evening per Berakhot 1:1-4); rabbinic Judaism reads the imperative *shema* as commanding the whole life-pattern of Torah-obedience, not bare auditory uptake. The structural overlap with Christian theology of *faith comes by hearing* ([Rom 10:17](/codex/romans-10-17/)) is substantial, both traditions resist the Hellenistic split between *information* and *response*.

Modern Christian engagement: Christopher Wright (*The Mission of God*, 2006), on the Shema as the missional confession; Daniel Block (*Deuteronomy* NIVAC, 2012); Patrick Miller (*Deuteronomy* Interpretation, 1990); Jon Levenson (*The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism*, 2016), Jewish scholar treating the Shema's love-command and hearing-anthropology.

## Verses in this codex

_See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Anchors: [Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/) (the Shema), [1 Samuel 15.22](/codex/1-samuel-15-22/) (obey-better-than-sacrifice), [Isaiah 6.9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/) (judicial hardening), [Isaiah 50.4](/codex/isaiah-50-4/) (Servant's ear), [Isaiah 55.1-3](/codex/isaiah-55-1-3/) (incline-and-live), [1 Samuel 3.9-10](/codex/1-samuel-3-9-10/) (Samuel's call), [Isaiah 1.2](/codex/isaiah-1-2/), [Micah 6.1-2](/codex/micah-6-1-2/).

## See also

- H7181 - qashab, *qashab* (to attend / give ear), companion attention-verb
- [H3045 - yada](/codex/h3045-yada/), *yadaʿ* (to know), companion relational-cognitive verb, Israel's covenant idiom binds *hearing* and *knowing*
- G0191 - akouō, Greek NT correspondent
- G5219 - hupakouō, Greek "to obey" (lit. "hear-under")
- [H0259 - echad](/codex/h0259-echad/), *echad* (one), the Shema's load-bearing noun
- [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), the covenant name confessed in the Shema
- [Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), the Shema passage hub
- [Monotheism](/codex/monotheism/), the doctrinal landscape the Shema anchors
- [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/), the Trinitarian unfolding of the Shema's *echad*

## Notes

_Lexical workspace for shama._