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Hebrew verb · H7768

שָׁוַע

shavashaw-vah'

to cry

21 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: shâvaʻ

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H7768is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 6 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 19
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H7768

properly, to be free; but used only causatively and reflexively, to halloo (for help, i.e. freedom from some trouble)

The King James renders it: cry (aloud, out), shout.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

shava is rendered "to cry". It stands 21 times in the Hebrew text, across six books.

  • Nine of the uses stand in Psalms, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Job 19:7Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
  • The Greek text spells it nineteen different ways.

The first use

Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

Job 19:7אֲ֝שַׁוַּ֗ע

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Nine of the word's twenty-one uses are in Psalms.

The other 33 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • I cried for help3
  • I cry for help3
  • they cry for help2
  • and I cried for help1
  • and I may cry for help1
  • and when cried for help he1
  • cried for help1
  • cries for help1
  • have I cried for help1
  • I cry out for help1
  • it cries for help1
  • they cried for help1

and 4 more, 21 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

שָׁוְאshavevanity: falseUses53
שָׁוָהshavahbe likeUses21
שָׁוָהshavahstormUsesnot recorded

All 21, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

19 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • מְשַׁוֵּ֑עַ2
  • שִׁוַּ֖עְתִּי2
  • אֲשַׁ֫וֵּ֥עַ1
  • אֲ֝שַׁוַּ֗ע1
  • אֲשַׁוַּ֣ע1
  • אֲשַׁוֵּֽעַ׃1
  • בְּשַׁוְּעִ֣י1
  • בְּשַׁוְּעִ֥י1
  • וַאֲשַׁוֵּ֔עַ1
  • וָאֲשַׁוֵּ֑עָה1
  • וּֽבְשַׁוְּע֖וֹ1
  • יְשַׁוְּע֥וּ1

and 7 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singular4HVpi1cs
  • verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine plural4HVpi3mp
  • verb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular4HVpp1cs
  • preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular2HR/Vpcc/Sp1bs
  • verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singular2HVprmsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HC/R/Vpcc/Sp3ms
  • HC/Vpu1cs1HC/Vpu1cs
  • Hc/Vpw1cs/Sh1Hc/Vpw1cs/Sh
  • verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular1HVpi2ms
  • verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person feminine singular1HVpi3fs

Job

eight uses
  • Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

    Job 19:7

    • אֲ֝שַׁוַּ֗עʾashava'verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cry for help
  • From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.

    Job 24:12

    • תְּשַׁוֵּ֑עַteshavea'verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it cries for help
  • because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.

    Job 29:12

    • מְשַׁוֵּ֑עַmeshavea'verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: cried for help
  • I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.

    Job 30:20

    • אֲשַׁוַּ֣עʾashava'verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cry for help
  • I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

    Job 30:28

    • אֲשַׁוֵּֽעַ׃ʾashavea'verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cry out for help
  • Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

    Job 35:9

    • יְשַׁוְּע֖וּyeshaveuverb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they cry for help
  • The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He binds them, they do not cry for help.

    Job 36:13

    • יְ֝שַׁוְּע֗וּyeshaveuverb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they cry for help
  • Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

    Job 38:41

    • יְשַׁוֵּ֑עוּyeshaveuverb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they will cry for help

Psalms

nine uses
  • In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.

    Psalms 18:6

    • אֲשַׁ֫וֵּ֥עַʾashavea'verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cried for help
  • They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but He did not answer.

    Psalms 18:41

    • יְשַׁוְּע֥וּyeshaveuverb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they cried for help
  • For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.

    Psalms 22:24

    • וּֽבְשַׁוְּע֖וֹuveshaveoconjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: and when cried for help he
  • Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

    Psalms 28:2

    • בְּשַׁוְּעִ֣יbeshaveipreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: when cry for help I
  • O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.

    Psalms 30:2

    • שִׁוַּ֥עְתִּיshiva'tiverb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cried for help
  • In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.

    Psalms 31:22

    • בְּשַׁוְּעִ֥יbeshaveipreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: when cried for help I
  • For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.

    Psalms 72:12

    • מְשַׁוֵּ֑עַmeshavea'verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: cries for help
  • But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.

    Psalms 88:13

    • שִׁוַּ֑עְתִּיshiva'tiverb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cry for help
  • I rise before dawn and cry for help; in Your word I have put my hope.

    Psalms 119:147

    • וָאֲשַׁוֵּ֑עָהvaashaveahHc/Vpw1cs/Shtagged: and I cried for help

Isaiah

one use
  • Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

    Isaiah 58:9

    • תְּשַׁוַּ֖עteshava'verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: you will cry for help

Lamentations

one use
  • Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.

    Lamentations 3:8

    • וַאֲשַׁוֵּ֔עַvaashavea'HC/Vpu1cstagged: and I may cry for help

Jonah

one use
  • saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.

    Jonah 2:2

    • שִׁוַּ֖עְתִּיshiva'tiverb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I cried for help

Habakkuk

one use
  • How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save?

    Habakkuk 1:2

    • שִׁוַּ֖עְתִּיshiva'tiverb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: have I cried for help

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →