Bible word study

Shaah (Strong’s H8159): Meaning in the Bible

Shaah (שָׁעָה) is the Hebrew word numbered H8159 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to gaze at or about (properly, for help); by implication, to inspect, consider, compassionate, be nonplussed (as looking around in amazement) or bewildered. In the King James Bible it is translated depart, be dim, be dismayed, look (away), regard.

• Original wordשָׁעָה
• Transliterationshâʻâh
• Pronunciationshaw-aw'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH8159
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Shaah appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Shaah (H8159) stands behind 15 English renderings in 15 verses across 6 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Isaiah (7), Genesis (2), Job (2).

How the King James Bible renders Shaah, by count

• look3 of 15 (20 percent)
• respect3 of 15 (20 percent)
• dismayed2 of 15 (13 percent)
• away1 of 15 (7 percent)
• depart1 of 15 (7 percent)
• dim1 of 15 (7 percent)

Three places to read Shaah

• Genesis 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
• Job 14:6 Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
• Isaiah 22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

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 Shaah 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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