Word study
Listen
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: listen, listened, listens, listening. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “listen” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁמַע shâmaheartranslated this way 276 times of its 1,132 uses · Strong’s H8085Verb · Translated: heard 311, hear 253, listen 218, obey 60Full study and all 1,063 verses →
Genesis 3:17 And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Exodus 3:18 The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
- קָשַׁב qâshabincline, attendtranslated this way 17 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H7181Verb · Translated: listen 12, pay attention 10, Attend 6, incline 2Full study and all 45 verses →
2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle does not belong to you, but to God.
Nehemiah 9:34 Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them.
- אָזַן âzangive ear, listen, heartranslated this way 14 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H238Verb · Translated: give ear 14, listen 13, Hear 6, pay attention 3Full study and all 41 verses →
Genesis 4:23 Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
2 Chronicles 24:19 Nevertheless, the LORD sent prophets to bring the people back to Him and to testify against them, but they would not listen.
- קוֹל qôlsound, voicetranslated this way 8 times of its 425 uses · Strong’s H6963Noun · Translated: voice 197, sound 63, voices 22, thunder 11Full study and all 378 verses →
Song of Solomon 2:8 Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.
Isaiah 13:4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
- אֹזֶן ôzeneartranslated this way 3 times of its 151 uses · Strong’s H241Noun · Translated: ears 54, ear 38, hearing 31, heard 6Full study and all 146 verses →
Nehemiah 8:3 So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men and women and those who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
Ezekiel 3:10 “Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart.
- חָדַל châdalceasetranslated this way 2 times of its 57 uses · Strong’s H2308Verb · Translated: stopped 9, stop 6, refrain 5, cease 4Full study and all 55 verses →
Ezekiel 2:5 And whether they listen or refuse to listen— for they are a rebellious house— they will know that a prophet has been among them.
Ezekiel 3:11 Go to your people, the exiles; speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀκούω akoúōI hear, listentranslated this way 54 times of its 422 uses · Strong’s G191Verb · Translated: heard 192, hear 98, listen 37, hearing 21Full study and all 394 verses →
Matthew 15:10 Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand.
Mark 4:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.
- παρακούω parakoúōI refuse to hear, disobey, disregardtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3878Verb · Translated: refuses to listen 2, overheard 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 18:17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.