Day 16 of 75 · Perception and response

Sh-M-ʿ

shmaʿ: hear

שמעו

ܫܡܰܥܘ

The feel

Shmaʿ means to hear, and it means hearing that answers. Sound reaches the ear and the will turns toward it. In the Shema, hearing and obeying are one act. The Qala often renders it listen for that reason.

The root family

Form	Pattern	Transliteration	Script	Standard	Qala rendering
The verb	peal (base stem)	shmaʿ	שמע ܫܡܥ	to hear	listen
Command	peal imperative, plural	šmaʿw	שמעו ܫܡܰܥܘ	hear!	Listen (Matthew 15:10)
Let-him-hear	peal imperfect	nešmaʿ	נשמע ܢܶܫܡܰܥ	let him hear	let them hear (Matthew 13:9)
Hearing ears	peal participle, feminine plural	dšāmʿān	דשמען ܕ݁ܫܳܡܥܳܢ	which hear	because they hear (Matthew 13:16)
Being heard	ethpeel participle	meštamʿin	משתמעין ܡܶܫܬ݁ܰܡܥܺܝܢ	they are heard	they'll be heard (Matthew 6:7)

In the Gospels the verb appears about 249 times, in the Peal, shmaʿ, to hear or listen, and in its passive, the Ethpeel eštmaʿ, to be heard (meštamʿin, Matthew 6:7).

In his voice

Matthew 13:9

Whoever has ears, let them hear."

nešmaʿ נשמע ܢܶܫܡܰܥ, "let them hear." The parable is finished, and what happens next depends on the one who hears it.

Matthew 15:10

Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen, and understand.

šmaʿw שמעו ܫܡܰܥܘ, "Listen!" The plural command. Listening comes first, and understanding follows from it.

Matthew 6:7

And when you pray, don't pile up empty words like the outsiders, who think they'll be heard because of their many words.

meštamʿin משתמעין ܡܶܫܬ݁ܰܡܥܺܝܢ, "they'll be heard." The passive stem. Here the root is about wanting to be heard, and the mistake of thinking many words will earn it.

Practice

Think of one thing you heard recently and have not acted on, and choose one step you will take on it today. Then say shmaʿ, hear, aloud.

Connections

Ḥ-Z-Y shmaʿ: listen

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