שָׁמְע֖וּ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 שָׁמְע֖וּ

   SHA-me-U

   they listened
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 וְלֹ֥א שָׁמְע֖וּ

   ve-LO SHA-me-U

   and not they listened
3. clause🔊 וְלֹ֥א שָׁמְע֖וּ וְלֹ֥א עָשֽׂוּ׃

   ve-LO SHA-me-U ve-LO A-SU

   and not they listened and not they did
4. sentence🔊 עַ֣ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹֽא־שָׁמְע֗וּ בְּקוֹל֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֔ם וַיַּעַבְרוּ֙ אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ אֵ֚ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוָּ֔ה מֹשֶׁ֖ה עֶ֣בֶד יְהוָ֑ה וְלֹ֥א שָׁמְע֖וּ וְלֹ֥א עָשֽׂוּ׃

   AL a-SHER lo-SHA-me-U be-KOL Ye-ho-VAH e-lo-HE-hem va-ya-av-RE-U et-be-ri-TO ET kal-a-SHER tsi-VA mo-SHE E-ved Ye-ho-VAH ve-LO SHA-me-U ve-LO A-SU

   because of that they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and they transgressed {direct object} his covenant {direct object marker} all that he commanded Moses servant of the LORD and not they listened and not they did

Exegesis

The relative pronoun asher lo sham‘ū {אֲשֶׁר לֹא שָׁמְעוּ | ʾă-šer lōʾ šā-me-ʾū} ‘that they did not obey’ with the prepositional phrase be-qōl YHWH elōhêhem {בְּקוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם | bə-qōl Yəhōwāh ʾĕ-lō-hê-hem} ‘in the voice of the LORD their God’ establishes the grounds for judgment.

The final parallelism wə-lō šā-me-ʾū wə-lō ʿāśū {וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ וְלֹא עָשׂוּ | wə-lō-ʾ šā-me-ʾū wə-lō-ʾ ʿā-śū} ‘they neither listened nor did’ intensifies the indictment by coupling refusal to hear with failure to act.

Root and etymology

sh-m-‘🔊 ש־מ־עshin–mem–ayin

“to hear, obey”

• 🔊 מִשְׁמַעַתmiš-ma-ʿatobedienceJeremiah 7:24