Hebrew word · H8259

שָׁקַף

vaiyashkef

to look

In the causative/reflexive stems it means to look down or look out from a high place: from a window (2 Sam 6:16; 2 Kgs 9:30), from a mountaintop (Num 21:20; 23:28), from heaven (Deut 26:15; Ps 14:2; 102:19). It always involves height and a wide view.

Appears 22 times in 22 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to overlook, look down or out, overhang, look out and down

1a) (Niphal) to lean over (and look), look down

1b) (Hiphil) to look down, look down upon

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 Genesis 19:28

Range of meaning

In the causative/reflexive stems it means to look down or look out from a high place: from a window (2 Sam 6:16; 2 Kgs 9:30), from a mountaintop (Num 21:20; 23:28), from heaven (Deut 26:15; Ps 14:2; 102:19). It always involves height and a wide view.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say simply 'looked toward', which loses the elevation. BSB, ESV, NASB and NIV 'looked down' keep it. YLT's 'looketh on the face of' keeps the Hebrew phrasing but not the height.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 18:16 uses the identical expression: the three visitors 'looked down upon the face of Sodom' (vayyashqifû ʿal-pənê sədōm) before God revealed his plan to Abraham. In Ps 14:2 and Deut 26:15 the same verb is used for God looking down from heaven.

From the study of Proverbs 7:6

Range of meaning

In the Niphal (used here) and Hiphil stems: to look down or look out, usually from a high place. It often implies deliberate, searching attention rather than a passing glance.

Against the English

KJV, BSB and YLT say "looked", WEB, ESV and NASB "looked out", NIV "looked down". "Looked down" keeps the sense of height best. Plain "looked" loses it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 18:16 (the visitors look down toward Sodom); Gen 26:8 (Abimelech looks out of a window and sees Isaac with Rebekah); Judg 5:28 (Sisera's mother); 2 Sam 6:16 (Michal looks out the window at David); 2 Kgs 9:30 (Jezebel looks out the window); Ps 14:2 and 102:19 (the LORD looks down from heaven to see).

From the study of Psalm 14:2

Range of meaning

In its Niphal and Hiphil forms (two of the verb's stems, its basic patterns of meaning), שׁקף means to look down from a height: to lean out and look over, to peer down through a window (2 Kings 9:30; Judges 5:28 has the Niphal of the same root). It also describes looking down over a landscape from a hill (Numbers 23:28; Genesis 18:16). With God as subject it is his gaze from heaven, sometimes in blessing ('look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people,' Deuteronomy 26:15; compare Psalm 102:19; Lamentations 3:50) and sometimes in judgment (Exodus 14:24, where the LORD looks down on the Egyptian army and throws it into confusion).

Against the English

'Looks down' is accurate in itself. English 'look down on' can suggest contempt, but the Hebrew has no sense of disdain here. Often the verb carries a scene of intent observation, and in the stories it echoes, the observation comes before decisive action.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 18:16 uses it of the visitors 'looking down toward Sodom' just before God says, 'I will go down and see' (18:21). Genesis 19:28 uses it of Abraham looking down on the smoking ruins. The Greek translation (LXX) of Psalm 13:2 renders it διέκυψεν, 'stooped and peered.' Babylonian hymns to the sun god Shamash praise him as the judge who surveys all lands from on high, so the image of a sky-judge watching humanity would have been familiar in the region.

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 3

  1. Genesis 18:16 וַיַּשְׁקִ֖פוּ and they looked down

    When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.

  2. Genesis 19:28 וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף and he looked down

    He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

    Here: Not just 'looked' but 'looked down from a height', the way someone looks out from a ridge or window. The subject is Abraham (from v. 27), gazing from the hill country down into the Jordan–Dead Sea basin.

  3. Genesis 26:8 וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף and he looked down

    When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 14:24 וַיַּשְׁקֵ֤ף and he looked down

    At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.

    Here: To look down from a height, as someone looks down through a window or from a ridge. In Israel's stories this downward gaze often comes just before judgment falls (Genesis 18:16; 19:28). One look from God is enough to set what follows in motion.

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 21:20 וְנִשְׁקָ֖פָה and it looked down

    and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

  2. Numbers 23:28 הַנִּשְׁקָ֖ף which looks down

    And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 26:15 הַשְׁקִיפָה֩ look down !

    Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

    Here: An imperative with an added -ah ending that makes the request warmer and more pressing, something like 'Do look down!' The verb pictures someone looking down from a height or leaning out of a window to look below. Here God is asked to look down from the sky at the farmer and his land.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 5:28 נִשְׁקְפָ֧ה she looked down

    Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice and lamented: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? What has delayed the clatter of his chariots?’

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 13:18 הַנִּשְׁקָ֛ף which looks down

    another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 6:16 נִשְׁקְפָ֣ה׀ she looked down

    As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.

    Here: She leans out and looks down from above. The word carries both physical height and a watcher who is surveying and judging.

  2. 2 Samuel 24:20 וַיַּשְׁקֵ֣ף and he looked down

    When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, he went out and bowed facedown before the king.

2 Kings · 2

  1. 2 Kings 9:30 וַתַּשְׁקֵ֖ף and she looked down

    Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.

    Here: "And she looked down." The verb means looking down from above, from a window, a height, or heaven. She takes a raised position over the gate Jehu is entering (v. 31).

  2. 2 Kings 9:32 וַיַּשְׁקִ֣יפוּ and they looked down

    He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 15:29 נִשְׁקְפָ֣ה׀ she looked down

    As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 14:2 הִשְׁקִ֪יף he looks down

    The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.

    Here: To lean out and look down from a height, as from a window or a hilltop. Here it is a deliberate inspection, not a passing glance. The past-tense form can describe one act or what God always does.

  2. Psalm 53:2 הִשְׁקִ֪יף he looks down

    God looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.

    Here: To look down from a height or out of a window. The picture is someone leaning out to take a close, searching look. The verb form usually reports a finished act ('looked down'), but in poetry it can also state a general truth ('looks down').

  3. Psalm 85:11 נִשְׁקָֽף׃ it looks down

    Faithfulness sprouts from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

    Here: To look down from a height, often leaning out of a window or from a lookout. Elsewhere God 'looks down from heaven' on the land (Deut 26:15; Ps 14:2; 102:19). Here rightness itself leans out of heaven's window and looks favorably on the land.

  4. Psalm 102:19 הִ֭שְׁקִיף he has looked down

    For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth

    Here: A vivid verb for someone leaning out of a high window or over a height to look down below. The picture is of God bending out from his high place to see what is happening underneath. The form is a completed action: 'he has looked down.'

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 7:6 נִשְׁקָֽפְתִּי׃ I looked down

    For at the window of my house I looked through the lattice.

    Here: "I looked down / looked out." The verb usually means looking down from a height, as God looks down from heaven or Abraham's visitors look down toward Sodom. It fits a man leaning at an upper window and studying the street below. The form is a completed past action: he is reporting something he watched.

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 6:10 הַנִּשְׁקָפָ֖ה [is] the [one who] looks down

    Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

    Here: 'The one who is looking down/out', a participle describing an ongoing action. The verb is used for looking down from a height or out of a window. Here the woman is pictured like the first light peering over the horizon. It is a picture of looking, not just of shining.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 6:1 נִשְׁקְפָ֥ה it has looked down

    “Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.

    Here: Used of someone leaning out of a window or looking down from a height. Disaster is pictured as already looming over the land and peering down at it. The perfect form presents this as a fact already in place.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:50 יַשְׁקִ֣יף he will look down

    until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.

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