Bible word study

Shavah (Strong’s H7737): Meaning in the Bible

Shavah (שָׁוָה) is the Hebrew word numbered H7737 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to level, i.e. equalize; figuratively, to resemble; by implication, to adjust (i.e. counterbalance, be suitable, compose, place, yield, etc.). In the King James Bible it is translated avail, behave, bring forth, compare, countervail.

• Original wordשָׁוָה
• Transliterationshâvâh
• Pronunciationshaw-vaw'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH7737
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Shavah appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Shavah (H7737) stands behind 22 English renderings in 21 verses across 8 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Psalms (6), Proverbs (4), Isaiah (4).

How the King James Bible renders Shavah, by count

• equal3 of 22 (14 percent)
• laid3 of 22 (14 percent)
• compared2 of 22 (9 percent)
• like2 of 22 (9 percent)
• maketh2 of 22 (9 percent)
• alike1 of 22 (5 percent)

Three places to read Shavah

• 2 Samuel 22:34 He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
• Psalms 21:5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
• Proverbs 27:15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Shavah in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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