Hebrew word · H7737

שָׁוָה

shoveh

be like

To be equal, to be like, to match in value. Esther 3:8 and 5:13 ('it is not worth it to the king'; 'all this is worth nothing to me') show the sense of worth or value.

Appears 21 times in 21 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to agree with, be or become like, level, resemble

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to be like

1a2) equivalent (participle)

1a3) to set, place

1a4) setting (participle)

1b) (Piel) to level, smooth, still

1c) (Hiphil) to make like

1d) (Nithpael) to be alike

Aramaic equivalent: she.vah (שְׁוָה "be like" H7739A)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 8:11

Range of meaning

To be equal, to be like, to match in value. Esther 3:8 and 5:13 ('it is not worth it to the king'; 'all this is worth nothing to me') show the sense of worth or value.

Against the English

'Compare with' (BSB, KJV, NIV) is accurate. The Hebrew keeps a slightly more commercial flavour: 'are not worth as much as her', 'do not measure up to her'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 3:15 and Job 28:17, 19 ('gold and glass cannot equal it... the topaz of Cush cannot equal it') use the same verb in the same kind of wisdom-against-treasure comparison.

From the study of Isaiah 46:5

Range of meaning

To be equal, level or worth the same (Prov 3:15; 8:11, 'nothing you desire is equal to her'; Est 3:8, 'not worth it'). In the Hiphil: to make equal, to put on a par, to compare (Lam 2:13). In the Piel: to level or smooth (Isa 28:25; 38:13).

Against the English

BSB 'count Me equal', KJV 'make me equal', WEB 'consider my equal'. All are accurate. The Hebrew picture comes from a level scale and matched value.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 40:25, 'that I should be equal (ve'eshveh)'. Proverbs uses the word for comparing worth: 'all your desires cannot equal her' (3:15). Lam 2:13 pairs it with damah.

From the study of Hosea 10:1

Range of meaning

Basic sense 'to be level, even, equal'. In the intensive (piel) form: 'to make level, smooth' (Isaiah 28:25, leveling a field), 'to set, place' (Psalm 16:8, 'I have set YHWH before me'), 'to make like, compose'.

Against the English

BSB/NIV/NASB: 'fruit for himself' (self-serving). ESV/WEB: 'that yields/produces its fruit' (neutral). KJV: 'bringeth forth fruit unto himself'. YLT: 'fruit he maketh like to himself'. The Vulgate: 'fruit was made equal to him'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Vulgate's adaequatus ('made equal') follows the basic 'equal' sense. The Septuagint paraphrases: 'its fruit thriving'. Using this verb for 'producing fruit' is found nowhere else, which is why translations differ.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:34 מְשַׁוֶּ֥ה [he is] making

    He makes my feet like those of a deer and stations me upon the heights.

    Here: An ongoing participle: '(he is the one) making like', describing what God habitually does. It carries on from verse 33 ('God… who…'), so the line reads as a description of God's character, not a single past event.

Esther · 3

  1. Esther 3:8 שֹׁוֶ֖ה [is] appropriate

    Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

    Here: 'Of equal value, worth it.' It is the language of a cost-benefit calculation and sets up the money offered in the next verse (3:9). Haman uses it again in 5:13 ('all this is worth nothing to me').

  2. Esther 5:13 שֹׁוֶ֖ה [is] adequate

    Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

  3. Esther 7:4 שֹׁוֶ֖ה [is] equal

    For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

    Here: 'Is worth' or 'is a match for.' Haman used the same word in 3:8 when he said tolerating the Jews was 'not worth it for the king.' Esther turns his own phrase back on him.

Job · 1

  1. Job 33:27 שָׁ֥וָה it was equal

    Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.

    Here: 'It was not equal' or 'it did not match'. Either the punishment did not equal the sin (God did not pay him back in full), or the sin was not worth it to him (it brought him nothing). The first reading fits the context of mercy best, and the second has close support in Esther 5:13.

Psalms · 6

  1. Psalm 16:8 שִׁוִּ֬יתִי I have placed

    I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

    Here: "I have set / I have placed." The verb form describes a deliberate act of placing something in position. The tense presents it as something already done whose result still holds. The psalmist has put YHWH where he can see him, and YHWH stays there.

  2. Psalm 18:33 מְשַׁוֶּ֣ה [he has] made

    He makes my feet like those of a deer and stations me upon the heights.

    Here: An intensive participle: 'the one who makes [my feet] equal to / like'. It carries on the description of God begun in v. 32 ('the God who girds me'), so it describes something God characteristically does, not a single past event.

  3. Psalm 21:5 תְּשַׁוֶּ֥ה you place

    Great is his glory in Your salvation; You bestow on him splendor and majesty.

  4. Psalm 89:19 שִׁוִּ֣יתִי I have placed

    You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

    Here: 'I have set / placed.' The picture is of putting something onto a person. That is partly why some scholars think the object was originally 'crown'. The completed-action form presents the gift as done and settled.

  5. Psalm 119:30 שִׁוִּֽיתִי׃ I have placed

    I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.

    Here: 'I have set (them)', most likely short for 'set before me', as in Ps 16:8, 'I have set the LORD always before me.' The rulings are kept constantly in view as the standard. Its ending rhymes with vacharti, so the two acts sit side by side.

  6. Psalm 131:2 שִׁוִּ֨יתִי׀ I have made still

    Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

    Here: In this intensive form the verb means to level or smooth something out, the way a farmer levels a ploughed field (Isa 28:25). The psalmist has smoothed down his inner turmoil. The perfect tense shows something achieved, now a settled state.

Proverbs · 4

  1. Proverbs 3:15 יִֽשְׁווּ־ they compare

    She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

    Here: 'They are not equal in value.' The verb is used for something being 'worth it' (Esth 3:8; 5:13). This is the language of weighing one thing against another on a scale. The verb form describes a standing, timeless fact.

  2. Proverbs 8:11 יִֽשְׁווּ־ they compare

    For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her.

    Here: "They are not equal / do not measure up." The picture is of goods weighed against each other on a scale, and nothing weighs as much as wisdom.

  3. Proverbs 26:4 תִּשְׁוֶה־ you should become like

    Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.

    Here: "You become equal / comparable." The word is about being put on the same level, so that the two can be compared and are found to match. Someone watching the exchange would no longer be able to tell the wise person from the fool.

  4. Proverbs 27:15 נִשְׁתָּוָֽה׃ she is like

    A constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike—

    Here: 'They are alike' or 'it comes to the same thing.' This rare reflexive-passive form of the verb 'to be equal, comparable' appears only here. It sets the two halves side by side as equivalents and leaves the hearer to work out the likeness. The sentence then runs on into verse 16.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 28:25 שִׁוָּ֣ה he has leveled

    When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, and rye within its border.

  2. Isaiah 38:13 שִׁוִּ֤יתִי I have lain down

    I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

  3. Isaiah 40:25 וְאֶשְׁוֶ֑ה and I may be equal?

    “To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

    Here: 'And I should be equal?' The 'and' here introduces a result: 'whom would you compare me with, so that I would be on a level with him?' The absurdity is in that result. No candidate exists who could make God one of a pair.

  4. Isaiah 46:5 וְתַשְׁו֑וּ and you may make [me] equal?

    To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?

    Here: Hiphil (causative stem) imperfect, 'you' plural: 'and make [me] equal.' The verb pictures a level balance, two things of equal weight or worth. There is no 'me' on this verb. The object carries over from the verbs around it, which is why KJV puts 'me' in italics.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:13 אַשְׁוֶה־ will I make equal

    What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can ever heal you?

    Here: 'Shall I set level with / match.' This is stronger than 'resemble': the poet wants something of equal weight to place beside her suffering.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 10:1 יְשַׁוֶּה־ he made

    Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.

    Here: An unusual, debated phrase. The verb normally means 'make level / make equal' or 'set, place'. It may mean 'he puts out fruit for himself' or 'he makes fruit to match himself', i.e. produce in proportion to its growth. The imperfect form points to a habit: he kept doing it.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.