שָׁמֵם shâmêm — to stun (or intransitively, grow numb), i.e. devastate or (figuratively) stupefy (both usually in a passive sense)
Translated in the KJV as make amazed, be astonied, astonish, (be, bring into, unto, lay, lie, make) desolate(-ion, places), be destitute, destroy.
a primitive root; to stun (or intransitively, grow numb), i.e. devastate or (figuratively) stupefy (both usually in a passive sense).
shâmêm in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 11Imperfect (yiqtol) 8Perfect (qatal) 7Sequential perfect (weqatal) 3Imperative 1Infinitive construct 1
And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?
And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house?
Niph'al
Perfect (qatal) 7Sequential perfect (weqatal) 6Participle (active) 6Participle (passive) 5
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.
They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
Hiph'il
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 7Perfect (qatal) 3Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Wayyiqtol 2Imperative 1Participle (active) 1Infinitive absolute 1
And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.
And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba.
Hitpolel
Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Wayyiqtol 2
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
Hoph'al
Infinitive construct 4
Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
Po'el
Participle (passive) 2Participle (active) 2
And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›