שָׁמַיִם
heaven
also: heavens, sky 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
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Dual
- Exactly two — for natural pairs and some measures of time.
Every verse where H8064 appears in the Book of Isaiah — 31 distinct verses. 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.
Isaiah
- Isaiah 1:2 שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ n c mp Hear, heavens, And listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against me.
- Isaiah 13:5 הַ/שָּׁמָ֑יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
- Isaiah 13:10 הַ/שָּׁמַ֨יִם֙ ptcl def.art + n c mp For the stars of the sky and the constellations of it shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine.
- Isaiah 13:13 שָׁמַ֣יִם n c mp Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
- Isaiah 14:12 מִ/שָּׁמַ֖יִם prep + n c mp How you are fallen from heaven, day-star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
- Isaiah 14:13 הַ/שָּׁמַ֣יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp You said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mountain of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
- Isaiah 34:4 הַ/שָּׁמַ֔יִם הַ/שָּׁמָ֑יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp ptcl def.art + n c mp All the host of the sky shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as the leaf fades from off the vine, and as a fading [leaf] from the fig tree.
- Isaiah 34:5 בַ/שָּׁמַ֖יִם prep det + n c md For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky: behold, it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, to judgment.
- Isaiah 37:16 הַ/שָּׁמַ֖יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, who sits [above] the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
- Isaiah 40:12 וְ/שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ conj + n c mp Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the sky with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Isaiah 40:22 שָׁמַ֔יִם n c mp [It is] he who sits above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants of it are as grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in;
- Isaiah 42:5 הַ/שָּׁמַ֨יִם֙ ptcl def.art + n c mp Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he who spread abroad the earth and that which comes out of it; he who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk therein:
- Isaiah 44:23 שָׁמַ֜יִם n c mp Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it; shout, you lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.
- Isaiah 44:24 שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ n c mp Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who stretches forth the heavens alone; who spreads abroad the earth (who is with me?);
- Isaiah 45:8 שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ n c mp Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together; I, Yahweh, have created it.
- Isaiah 45:12 שָׁמַ֔יִם n c mp I have made the earth, and created man on it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded.
- Isaiah 45:18 הַ/שָּׁמַ֜יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp For thus says Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn't create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh; and there is no one else.
- Isaiah 47:13 שָׁמַ֗יִם n c mp You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come on you.
- Isaiah 48:13 שָׁמָ֑יִם n c mp Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.
- Isaiah 49:13 שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ n c mp Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains: for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
- Isaiah 50:3 שָׁמַ֖יִם n c mp I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
- Isaiah 51:6 לַ/שָּׁמַ֨יִם שָׁמַ֜יִם prep det + n c mp n c mp Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
- Isaiah 51:13 שָׁמַיִם֮ n c mp and have forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
- Isaiah 51:16 שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ n c mp I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, You are my people.
- Isaiah 55:9 שָׁמַ֖יִם n c mp For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- Isaiah 55:10 הַ/שָּׁמַ֗יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn't return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
- Isaiah 63:15 מִ/שָּׁמַ֨יִם֙ prep + n c mp Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory: where are your zeal and your mighty acts? the yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.
- Isaiah 64:1 שָׁמַ֨יִם֙ n c mp Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,
- Isaiah 65:17 שָׁמַ֥יִם n c mp For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
- Isaiah 66:1 הַ/שָּׁמַ֣יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp Thus says Yahweh, heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will you build to me? and what place shall be my rest?
- Isaiah 66:22 הַ/שָּׁמַ֣יִם ptcl def.art + n c mp For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says Yahweh, so shall your seed and your name remain.
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.
The Hebrew noun שמים centers on the idea of “heaven.” First canonically at Genesis 1:1, it enters the text early. It turns up in 395 verses across 33 books, a common footprint. Beyond “heaven” it also covers “heavens” and “sky” — see its full sense range. It clusters with שמין under a shared root. Dig into 395-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H8064 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 →
- 395
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 395 distinct verses.
- 33 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 33 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #117
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 117 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 395 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Psalms 70 verses 18%
- Genesis 39 verses 10%
- Deuteronomy 38 verses 10%
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 395 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 158 verses · 40%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 145 verses · 37%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 92 verses · 23%
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).
- King James Version: Heaven 227×, Heavens 80×, Air 21×
- American Standard Version: Heaven 172×, Heavens 133×, Toward heaven 11×
- Berean Standard Bible: Heaven 154×, Heavens 139×, Air 43×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Heavens 297×, Heaven 47×, Sky 21×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8064 across 419 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 33 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8064 across 419 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 53 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H8064 across 410 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 14 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 11 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8064 across 414 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
5 senses and sub-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.
- 1.
- a. visible heavens, sky, where stars, etc., are
- b. phrases
- 2.
- a. as abode of God
- b. Elijah taken up הַשּׁ׳ in whirlwind
- 3. הַשּׁ׳ personified in various relations
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
[ שָׁמַי ] n.m. only pl. שָׁמַיִם 421 heavens, sky
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: from an unused root meaning to be lofty
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.
שָׁמַיִם
- du. m. du. (b. h.)
- 1. heaven; trnsf. Heaven, God. Gen. R. s. 1 הש׳ נבראו תחלה the heaven was first created. Tam. 32ᵃ top מן הש׳ לארץ וכ׳ is it farther from heaven to earth, or from east to west? Lam. R. introd. (R. Joh. 1) מִשְּׁמֵי מרום from the high heavens. Ned. XI, 12 (90ᵇ) ש׳ ביני לביניך heaven is between me and thee (I have an unconquerable aversion to associating with thee, v. Y. ib. 42ᵈ bot., quot. s. v. רָחִיק II; differ. in comment.). R. Hash. 19ᵃ אי ש׳ by Heaven! B. Mets. 37ᵃ לצאת ידי ש׳ to do his duty towards God (v. יָצָא).—Kidd. 40ᵃ, a. e. רע לש׳, v. רַע.—Snh. XI, 5, a. e. בידי ש׳, v. מִיתָה.—ירא ש׳, יראת ש׳, מלכות ש׳ &c., v. respective determinants.
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 97 distinct written forms H8064 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 37 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8064, 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.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 362 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 395 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
- Genesis 1:1
- Exodus 9:8
- Leviticus 26:19
- Deuteronomy 1:10
- Joshua 2:11
- Judges 5:4
- 1 Samuel 2:10
- 2 Samuel 18:9
- 1 Kings 8:22
- 2 Kings 1:10
- 1 Chronicles 16:26
- 2 Chronicles 2:6
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.
