Bible word study

Shaa (Strong’s H8173): Meaning in the Bible

Shaa (שָׁעַע) is the Hebrew word numbered H8173 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as (in a good acceptation) to look upon (with complacency), i.e. fondle, please or amuse (self); (in a bad one) to look about (in dismay), i.e. stare. In the King James Bible it is translated cry (out) (by confusion with H7768), dandle, delight (self), play, shut..

שָׁעַע
shâʻaʻ · Hebrew
Strong’s H8173 · shaw-ah'

The full Strong’s definition

(in a good acceptation) to look upon (with complacency), i.e. fondle, please or amuse (self); (in a bad one) to look about (in dismay), i.e. stare

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

cry (out) (by confusion with H7768), dandle, delight (self), play, shut.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Shaa 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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