שׁוּר
to see
also: behold, observe, regard fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘behold’
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 5 times (31%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 3 times (19%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular 3 times (19%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Feminine, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (6%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 16 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H7789 appears — 16 distinct verses across 5 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Numbers 2 verses
- Numbers 23:9 אֲשׁוּרֶ֑/נּוּ Qal impf 1cs + sfx pers 3ms For from the top of the rocks I see him, From the hills I see him: behold, it is a people that dwells alone, And shall not be reckoned among the nations.
- Numbers 24:17 אֲשׁוּרֶ֖/נּוּ Qal impf 1cs + sfx pers 3ms I see him, but not now; I see him, but not near: There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, A scepter shall rise out of Israel, Shall strike through the corners of Moab, Break down all the sons of tumult.
Job 10 verses
- Job 7:8 תְ֭שׁוּרֵ/נִי Qal impf 3fs + sfx pers 1cs The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.
- Job 17:15 יְשׁוּרֶֽ/נָּה Qal impf 3ms + sfx pers 3fs Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?
- Job 20:9 תְּשׁוּרֶ֥/נּוּ Qal impf 3fs + sfx pers 3ms The eye which saw him shall see him no more, Neither shall his place any more see him.
- Job 24:15 תְשׁוּרֵ֣/נִי Qal impf 3fs + sfx pers 1cs The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.
- Job 33:14 יְשׁוּרֶֽ/נָּה Qal impf 3ms + sfx pers 3fs For God speaks once, Yes twice, though man pays no attention.
- Job 33:27 יָשֹׁ֤ר Qal juss 3ms He sings before men, and says, 'I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, And it didn't profit me.
- Job 34:29 יְשׁוּרֶ֑/נּוּ Qal impf 3ms + sfx pers 1cp When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? Alike whether to a nation, or to a man:
- Job 35:5 וְ/שׁ֥וּר conj + Qal impv 2ms Look to the heavens, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you.
- Job 35:13 יְשׁוּרֶֽ/נָּה Qal impf 3ms + sfx pers 3fs Surely God will not hear an empty cry, Neither will the Almighty regard it.
- Job 35:14 תְשׁוּרֶ֑/נּוּ Qal impf 2ms + sfx pers 1cp How much less when you say you don't see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him!
Song of Solomon 1 verse
Jeremiah 1 verse
Hosea 2 verses
- Hosea 13:7 אָשֽׁוּר Qal impf 1cs Therefore am I to them like a lion; Like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
- Hosea 14:8 וַ/אֲשׁוּרֶ֗/נּוּ conj + Qal wimpf 1cs + sfx pers 3ms Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; From me your fruit is found."
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, שור (shûwr) means “to see.” Its uses cluster heavily in Job (63% of all occurrences). With 16 verses in 5 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. First canonically at Numbers 23:9, it enters the text early. Not a single-sense word: its full sense range also takes in “behold”, “observe”, and “regard”. Dig into 16-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7789 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 16
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 16 distinct verses.
- 5 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 5 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,752
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,752 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 16 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 16 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 69%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 3 verses · 19%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 2 verses · 13%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 5 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Shall see 3×
- American Standard Version†: Any more behold him 1×, Behold 1×, Can behold 1×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Behold him 1×, Can see 1×, Can see him 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Will 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7789 across 16† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 13 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H7789 across 15† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H7789 across 15† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7789 across 21† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 19 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 5 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
שור I
Qal
- Impf. 2 fs. וַתָּשֻׁרִי לַמֶּלֶךְ בַּשֶּׁמֶן Is 57:9 and thou (the apostate faction) didst journey to (the god) Melek with (thine) oil, i.e. bring, offer it (Che Marti read וַתָּסֻכִי). Pt. fpl. שָׁרוֹתַיִךְ Ez 27:25 ships of Tarshish were thy travellers (i.e. traders), but improbable; Krae שָׁרוֹת לָךְ בְּ journey for thee with thy wares; Toy רֹכְלַיִךְ בְּ; Co שֵֽׁרְתוּךְ served thee. e.g. Isaiah 57:9
שור II behold, regard (especially Jb)
Qal
- Impf. 3 ms. יָשׁוּר Je 5:26, sf. יְשׁוּרֶנּוּ Jb 34:29, etc.; Imv. ms. שׁוּר Jb 35:5;— e.g. Jeremiah 5:26
- 1. behold, c. acc. pers. Nu 23:9; 24:17 (poems in JE, ‖ רָאָה), לֹא תְּשׁוּרֵנִי, subj. eye, Jb 24:15, and (= I shall not exist) 7:8, cf. 20:9 (subj. מְקוֹמוֹ), 17:15; God object 34:29; 35:14; look, gaze, abs., מִן loc. Ct 4:8. e.g. Numbers 23:9
- 2. regard with watchful care (subj. י׳) Ho 14:9; so, = notice, Jb 35:13; regard, observe, acc. rei, God’s word Jb 33:14 (Hi De Da al.), so, (reading 2 ms.), Siegf Bu; Du יְשִׁיבֶנָּה he (God) retracts it not. e.g. Hosea 14:9
- 3. watch stealthily, lie in wait, כְּנָמֵר עַל־דֶּרֶךְ אָשׁוּר Ho 13:7 (subj. י׳; Meinh Marti אֶשְׁקֹד; 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙 We Now al. אַשּׁוּר), Je 5:26 (subj. wicked).—Jb 33:27 v. שׁיר. e.g. Hosea 13:7
שור III dub. word, only pl. sf. וַתַּבֵּט עֵינִי בְּשׁוּרָ֑י ψ 92
שור IV [m.] wall (Aramaic שׁוּרָא, ܫܽܘܪܳܐ )
שור V loc. SW. of Palestine, on E. border of Egypt
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. vb. perhaps travel, journey (Assyrian šâru, pass along, take one’s way, Arabic سَارَ (ى) go, pass along, journey, سَيَّارَةٌ caravan, Palm. שירתא Lzb 375 SAC113 Cooke271, Syriac ܫܝܳܪܬܳܐ (? Arabic loan-wd., Frä 180));—
II. vb. behold, regard (especially Jb);—
III. dub. word, only pl. sf. וַתַּבֵּט עֵינִי בְּשׁוּרָ֑י ψ 92:12, read בְּשׁוֹרְרָ֑י (Bae al.) v. foll.
IV. n.[m.] wall (Aramaic שׁוּרָא, ܫܽܘܪܳܐ );—Gn 49:22 (poem in J), 2 S 22:30 = ψ 18:30; pl. sf. שׁוּרֹתָם Jb 24:11 their walls De Di De, cf. Bu; but v. שׁוּרָה infra; שָׁרוֹתֶיהָ Je 5:10 = its walls, according to Vrss AV RV Gf Gie, read then שֻׁ׳, but v. id.
V. n.pr.loc. SW. of Palestine, on E. border of Egypt;—Gn 16:7 (J; דֶּרֶךְ שׁ׳), 20:1 (E), towards Egypt 25:18 (J), 1 S 15:7, שׁ֫וּרָה 27:8; מִדְבַּר־שׁ׳ Ex 15:22 (J).—Often supposed to denote properly the ‘wall’ or line of fortresses, built by Egyptian Kings across isthmus of Suez; but dub.: cf. Dr Hast.DB Shur.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שור (shûwr) (H7788) — to travel.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
שְׁוָורִים
- , pl. of שׁוֹר.
שְׁוַר
- , v. שְׁוַור, שַׁוָּור.
שׁוּר I
- to sing; Polel שׁוֹרֵר, v. שִׁיר I.
שׁוּר II
- מִדְבַּר ש׳ desert of Shur (caravan road), v. כּוּב, a. next. w.
שׁוּר III
- 1. wall, fortification, stronghold. Gen. R. s. 98 (ref. to שׁוֹר, Gen. XLIX, 6; v. Targ. O. a. Y. 1) עקרתון שׁוּרָן של גרים you have uprooted the stronghold (reliance) of proselytes (by dealing faithlessly with the Shechemites); בשביל … עקרתם שורן וכ׳ in order to gratify your passion, you have uprooted &c. e.g. Genesis 49:6
- 2. protected habitation, civilized condition (cmp. יִשּׁוּב), opp. מדבר. Ex. R. s. 24 (play on מדבר שור, Ex. XV, 22) עד שלא יצאו … נעשה העולם ש׳ before Israel went out of Egypt, the world was a desert (lawless); when they went forth, the world became civilized; עד שלא קיבלו … ש׳ before Israel received the Law, the world was a desert; when they received it, the world became &c. e.g. Exodus 15:22
שׁוּר
- 1. wall, fortification. Targ. O. Gen. XLIX, 6 (Y. I שׁוֹר; v. preced.). Targ. Lam. II, 8. Targ. Prov. XXV, 28; a. fr.—Lam. R. to II, 8 (expl. חל וחומה, ib.) ש׳ ובר ש׳ the large circumvallation and the smaller wall; Pes. 86ᵃ; Y. ib. VII, 35ᵇ bot. Y. B. Bath. II, 13ᵇ bot. ש׳ דחמץ the wall of Emesa; M.M. Kat. 26ᵃ ש׳ דלודקיא the wall of Laodicea; a. fr.—Pl. שׁוּרִין, שׁוּרַיָּא. Targ. Ex. XIV, 22. Targ. II Kings XXV, 4. Targ. O. Deut. XXVIII, 52; a. fr.
- 2. (v. שׁוּרָה) line, road. Y. Keth. VII, 31ᶜ, v. פּוּתְיָא.—V. שׁוּרְתָא.
שׁוֹר I
- , Fl. to Levy Talm. Dict. IV, p. 680) ox. B. Kam. 65ᵇ ש׳ בן יומו קרוי ש׳ an ox on the day of his birth is called shor (by ref. to Lev. XXII, 27). Ib. I, 1 הש׳ damage done by an ox (Ex. XXI, 28; XXII, 4). Ib. IV, 7 ש׳ המדבר the ox of the desert (aurochs, being ownerless). Kil. VIII, 6; Ḥull. 80ᵃ בר(ה) ש׳ wild ox, aurochs; a. fr.—Erub. 53ᵇ (in enigmatic speech) ש׳ משפט (not במשפט) = תור דין = תְּרָדִין, v. תְּרָדָא I.—Pl. שְׁוָורִים, שְׁוָורִין, שְׁוָר׳. Gen. R. s. 75 (ref. to Gen. XXXII, 6) משור אחד יצאו ש׳ הרבה from the one ox (which I originally possessed) many oxen went forth. B. Kam. III, 8. Y. Gitt. IX, 46ᵈ bot.; a. fr. e.g. Leviticus 22:27
שׁוֹר II
- chain, cord, esp. umbilical cord. Lev. R. s. 5 ואני חותכת את שׁוֹרְךָ and I shall cut thy umbilical cord (with which thou art attached to me); Yalk. Job 908 טבורך).
שִׁיר I
- denom. of next w.) to sing. Ber. 14ᵇ ושַׁרְנוּ לך and we sang (praises) unto thee. Snh. 91ᵇ (ref. to Ex. XV, 1) שָׁר לא נאמר אלא יָשִׁיר it does not read, ‘he sang’; but, ‘he shall sing’; Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 1; a. e. e.g. Exodus 15:1
- ) שׁוֹרֵר same. Num. R. s. 3 (play on ב̇כ̇וש̇ר̇ות, Ps. LXVIII, 7) אותן שהיו ב̇וכ̇ין … מְ֗ש̇ו̇רְ֗רִין עכשיו those who formerly wept …, were now singing. Ib. ועבד מְשׁוֹרֵר וכ׳ and the slave sings, because he is relieved &c. B. Bath. 120ᵃ מְשׁוֹרְרִים לפניה went singing (bridal songs) before her; a. fr.—[Midr. Till. to Ps. CXVI באין ושוררין, read: ושׁוֹרִין, v. שָׁרָה II.]—מְשׁוֹרֵר singer, esp. Temple singer (Levite). Arakh. 11ᵇ מ׳ ששיער ומשוער ששורר if one designated as a singer acts as gate-guard, or a gate-guard acts as singer; a. fr.—Pl. מְשׁוֹרְרִים, מְשׁוֹרְרִין. Ib. שאתה מן המ׳ וכ׳ for thou belongest to the singers, and not to the gate-guards; a. fr. e.g. Psalms 68:7
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 14 distinct written forms H7789 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| יְשׁוּרֶֽ/נָּה | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Job 17:15 | 3 |
| אֲשׁוּרֶ֑/נּוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Numbers 23:9 | 1 |
| אֲשׁוּרֶ֖/נּוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Numbers 24:17 | 1 |
| אָשֽׁוּר | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Hosea 13:7 | 1 |
| וְ/שׁ֥וּר | Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular | Job 35:5 | 1 |
| וַ/אֲשׁוּרֶ֗/נּוּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Hosea 14:8 | 1 |
| יְשׁוּרֶ֑/נּוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Job 34:29 | 1 |
| יָשֹׁ֤ר | Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Job 33:27 | 1 |
| יָשׁוּר֙ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Jeremiah 5:26 | 1 |
| תְ֭שׁוּרֵ/נִי | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Job 7:8 | 1 |
| תְשׁוּרֵ֣/נִי | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Job 24:15 | 1 |
| תְשׁוּרֶ֑/נּוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular | Job 35:14 | 1 |
| תְּשׁוּרֶ֥/נּוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Job 20:9 | 1 |
| תָּשׁ֣וּרִי | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Feminine, Singular | Song of Solomon 4:8 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7789, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 7 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 16 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 16 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
