This is hearing that includes responsiveness. The Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 names this verb as the foundational act of covenantal Israel: to hear is already to be in obedient relation. In this family, sound entering the ear and the will bending toward it are not two events but one: if you have truly heard, something in you has already begun to answer. That is why the Qala rendering is listen rather than the flatter hear: listening is hearing with your whole posture turned toward the speaker.
The root is everywhere in the corpus (roughly 237 occurrences) and it carries Palestinian Aramaic attestation (DJPA), which places this word family close to the Galilean speech world of Yeshua and not only in the later Syriac witness. When Yeshua ends a parable with a call to hear, he is pressing on this old covenantal nerve: the parable has been spoken; what happens next depends on the ear.
| 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) |
| Stem | Form | Sense | Witness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peal | shmaʿ | hear, listen | corpus, throughout (~237×) |
| Ethpeel | eštmaʿ | be heard | corpus: Matthew 6:7 (meštamʿin) |
| Pael | — | — | not attested in this corpus |
| Ethpaal | — | — | not attested |
| Aphel | ašmaʿ | make hear, announce | standard lexicon; not cited from this corpus |
| Ettaphal | — | — | not attested |
| Shaphel | — | — | not attested |
Sit somewhere ordinary and let one sound reach you: a car passing, a bird, the refrigerator hum. Notice the instant between the sound arriving and your mind naming it. That gap is where shmaʿ lives. Now recall something someone said to you this week that you heard but did not listen to. Say the word shmaʿ slowly, and let it mean: I am willing for what I hear to change what I do. That willingness (not the eardrum) is what the Shema has always asked for.
The Hebrew cognate is šāmaʿ, the first word of the Shema, "Hear, O Israel" (Deuteronomy 6:4), where hearing and obeying are one verb. The name Shimʿon (Simon), borne by the student Yeshua renamed Kepha, means "heard." Many languages make the same move Aramaic makes here: Latin ob-audire, "to listen toward," is where English gets obey: a parallel, not a descendant, but the same insight. Hearing pairs naturally with tomorrow's root of seeing, Ḥ-Z-Y: the two run side by side through Matthew 13:13–17.
Take two to three minutes and explain to a friend why "Whoever has ears, let them hear" is not a throwaway line. Use the word shmaʿ at least three times. Cover: what the Shema made this verb mean for Israel, why "listen" is a better English surface than "hear," and one moment this week when you heard without listening. End by saying the plural command aloud, the way Matthew 15:10 has it: šmaʿw: Listen.