Hebrew noun (feminine) · H8077
שְׁמָמָה
shemamahshem-aw-maw'
devastation; desolation; Desolate
57 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: shᵉmâmâh
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H8077is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 10 of 39Old Testament books
- 23spellings
- 3meanings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H8077
devastation; figuratively, astonishment
The King James renders it: (laid, [idiom] most) desolate(-ion), waste.
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
shemamah is rendered "devastation; desolation; Desolate". It stands 57 times in the Hebrew text, across ten books.
- Twenty-two of the uses stand in Ezekiel, more than in any other book.
- The lexicon lists three meanings for it, beginning with "devastation".
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Exodus 23:29I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.
- The Greek text spells it twenty-three different ways.
The first use
I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.
Exodus 23:29שְׁמָמָ֔ה
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Twenty-two of the word's fifty-seven uses are in Ezekiel.
What the word means
The word carries three meanings: devastation, and desolation, and Desolate.
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
| Meaning | Tagged as | Where |
|---|---|---|
| devastationStrong's entry A | Tagged aslisted under the table | WhereExodus 23:29I will not drive them out before you in a single year… |
| desolationStrong's entry B | Tagged aslisted under the table | Wherein the ledger below |
| DesolateStrong's entry A | Tagged aslisted under the table | Wherein the ledger below |
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- a desolation26
- desolation7
- into a desolation7
- a waste6
- and desolation3
- desolations of2
- and a desolation1
- and a waste1
- desolate1
- into a waste1
- into desolations of1
- wastes of1
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.
| Word | Written | Meaning | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| שְׁמֹנֶה | shemoneh | eight | Uses109 |
| שְׁמֹנִים | shemonim | eighty | Uses38 |
| שְׁמִינִי | shemini | eighth | Uses28 |
| שְׁמוּעָה | shemuah | tidings | Uses27 |
| שְׁמַע | shema | to hear | Uses9 |
| שְׁמִטָּה | shemittah | remission | Uses5 |
| שְׁמַד | shemad | to destroy | Uses1 |
| שְׁמַם | shemam | be appalled | Uses1 |
| שְׁמַשׁ | shemash | to minister | Uses1 |
| שְׁמֻרָה | shemurah | waking | Uses1 |
| שְׁמִינִית | sheminith | Sheminith | Uses1 |
| שְׁמִידָעִי | Shemidai | Shemidaite | Uses1 |
The words it stands beside
All 57, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
23 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
- שְׁמָמָ֔ה13
- שְׁמָמָ֖ה7
- שְׁמָמָ֣ה5
- שְׁמָמָֽה׃5
- שְׁמָמָ֥ה3
- וּשְׁמָמָ֖ה2
- לִשְׁמָמָ֖ה2
- לִשְׁמָמָ֣ה2
- לִשְׁמָמָ֑ה2
- שְׁמָמָ֑ה2
- שִׁמְמ֥וֹת2
- וּשְׁמָמָ֔ה1
and 11 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- noun · feminine singular39HNcfsa
- preposition + noun · feminine singular8HR/Ncfsa
- conjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singular5HC/Ncfsa
- noun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)3HNcfpc
- adjective · feminine singular1HAafsa
- preposition + noun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)1HR/Ncfpc
Exodus
one use
I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a waste
Leviticus
one use
But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Joshua
one use
So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Isaiah
six uses
Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
- וּשְׁמָמָ֖הushemamahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and desolation
Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- שְׁמָמָֽה׃shemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.
- שְׁמָמָֽה׃shemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.
- שְׁמָמָֽה׃shemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Jeremiah
fifteen uses
For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.
- שְׁמָמָ֥הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a waste
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
- שְׁמָמָֽה׃shemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
- שְׁמֵמָ֑הshememahadjective · feminine singulartagged: desolate
But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
- לְשִֽׁמְמ֥וֹתleshimotpreposition + noun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: into desolations of
And fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.’
- שְׁמָמָ֥הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a waste
Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.
- לִשְׁמָמָ֖הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the LORD.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
“Hazor will become a haunt for jackals, a desolation forever. No one will dwell there; no man will abide there.”
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Because of the wrath of the LORD, she will not be inhabited; she will become completely desolate. All who pass through Babylon will be horrified and will hiss at all her wounds.
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a waste
No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
- שִׁמְמ֥וֹתshimotnoun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: wastes of
and say, ‘O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain—neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.’
- שִׁמְמ֥וֹתshimotnoun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: desolations of
Ezekiel
twenty-two uses
I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
- שְׁמָמָ֤הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and I will judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
The inhabited cities will be laid waste, and the land will become desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
- שְׁמָמָ֣הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,
- שְׁמָמָה֙shemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if these three men were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.
- שְׁמָמָֽה׃shemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
- שְׁמָמָ֑הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
- וּשְׁמָמָ֔הushemamahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and desolation
The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it,’
- לִשְׁמָמָ֣הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
therefore I am against you and against your rivers. I will turn the land of Egypt into a ruin, a desolate wasteland from Migdol to Syene, and as far as the border of Cush.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and her cities will lie desolate for forty years among the ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the countries.
- שְׁמָמָ֜הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
‘When I make the land of Egypt a desolation and empty it of all that filled it, when I strike down all who live there, then they will know that I am the LORD.’
- שְׁמָמָ֣הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
I will make the land a desolate waste, and the pride of her strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, so that no one will pass through.
- שְׁמָמָ֣הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the abominations they have committed.’
- שְׁמָמָ֣הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Mount Seir. I will stretch out My hand against you and make you a desolate waste.
- שְׁמָמָ֥הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
- שְׁמָמָ֣הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go.
- לְשִֽׁמְמָ֖הleshimahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
- וּשְׁמָמָ֑הushemamahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and a desolation
I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
- שִֽׁמְמ֤וֹתshimotnoun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: desolations of
This is what the Lord GOD says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
As you rejoiced when the inheritance of the house of Israel became desolate, so will I do to you. You will become a desolation, O Mount Seir, and so will all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
- שְׁמָמָ֨הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a desolation
Joel
four uses
Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them.
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
The northern army I will drive away from you, banishing it to a barren and desolate land, its front ranks into the Eastern Sea, and its rear guard into the Western Sea. And its stench will rise; its foul odor will ascend. For He has done great things.
- וּשְׁמָמָה֒ushemamahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and desolation
Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
- לִשְׁמָמָ֣הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
- שְׁמָמָ֖הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: desolation
Micah
two uses
All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute.
- שְׁמָמָ֑הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a waste
Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
- לִשְׁמָמָ֖הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
Zephaniah
four uses
Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
- לִשְׁמָמָ֑הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
- לִשְׁמָמָ֑הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a desolation
Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”
- וּשְׁמָמָ֖הushemamahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and a waste
And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as a desert.
- לִשְׁמָמָ֔הlishmamahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a waste
Malachi
one use
but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
- שְׁמָמָ֔הshemamahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a waste
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.