1 Samuel 22:1:71 Sam.22.1.W7TAB

וַיִּשְׁמְע֤וּ

vayishmeu

and they heard

Transliteration
va-yish-me-U
Extended
vah-yihsh-meh-OO
IPA
/vaj.jiʃ.məˈʕuː/

Meaning by language

English
and they heard

Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it

Result
וַ + יִּשְׁ + מְ + ע֤וּ
va + yish + me + u
vayishmeu

Alphabet Analysis

Vavv as in vine; marks long ō / ū
Patachshort 'ah' as in father
Yody as in yes; marks long ī
Hireq'ee' as in machine
Shinshin with right dot; sin with left dot
Shevasilent sheva — no sound; closes the syllable
Memm as in mother
Shevavocal sheva — a short 'e' (ə), begins a syllable
Ayindeep guttural stop, voiced pharyngeal
Vavv as in vine; marks long ō / ū

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Vowels (Niqqud)

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The word

Word in context

  1. word

    va-yish-me-U

  2. phraseyour reading level

    va-yish-me-U e-KHAV

  3. clause

    va-yish-me-U e-KHAV ve-khol-BET a-VIV va-YE-re-du e-LAV SHAM-ma

  4. sentence

    va-YE-lekh da-VID mi-SHAM va-yim-ma-LET el-me-A-rat a-dul-LAM va-yish-me-U e-KHAV ve-khol-BET a-VIV va-YE-re-du e-LAV SHAM-ma

Exegesis

The verse employs a chain of vav-consecutive imperfect verbs: vayelekh {וַיֵּ֤לֶךְ | wayyeleḵ} ‘and he went’, vayimmalet {וַיִּמָּלֵ֖ט | wayyimmaleṭ} ‘and he escaped’, vayishme’u {וַיִּשְׁמְע֤וּ | wayyišmeʾû} ‘and they heard’, and vayyerdu {וַיֵּרְד֥וּ | wayyeŗḏû} ‘and they went down’, which conveys rapid successive action typical of Hebrew narrative.

Root and etymology

shin–mem–ayin

to hear

In context1 Samuel 22:1

And David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam, and when his brothers and all the household of his father heard, they went down to him there

About this coordinate

1 Samuel 22:1:7 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 7 of 1 Samuel 22:1, so the Hebrew word וַיִּשְׁמְע֤וּ (vayishmeu) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written 1 Sam.22.1.W7, which extends further down to each syllable (1 Sam.22.1.W7.S1) and character.