שָׁם
sham (H8033G)
there
AI Word Study
# שָׁם (sham): "There" The Hebrew word *sham* is a locative adverb meaning "there," used to indicate location or place in biblical narrative and discourse. With 833 occurrences throughout the Hebrew Bible, it ranks among the most frequently employed positional words, demonstrating its fundamental role in establishing geographical and spatial orientation within biblical texts. The word functions as a basic building block of narrative description, allowing speakers and writers to situate events, people, and objects in specific locations. The high frequency of *sham* reflects its essential function in biblical storytelling and legal instruction. Rather than serving a specialized theological purpose, it operates as a straightforward adverbial marker that helps readers understand where events are taking place—whether describing Abraham's journey to a particular place, the location of an altar, or the setting of a judicial proceeding. Its ubiquity across 833 instances suggests that biblical literature relies heavily on spatial language to organize and communicate its content, making precise location a consistent concern across narrative, legal, and poetic material. The simplicity of *sham*'s definition masks its practical importance: by appearing roughly 833 times, this single word carries significant weight in the cumulative construction of biblical meaning. Its very ordinariness and frequency underscores how much biblical communication depends upon clear spatial anchoring to make narratives, laws, and descriptions intelligible to audiences.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers.
The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there.
Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
Pathrusim, Casluhim (which the Philistines descended from), and Caphtorim.
As they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.
Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name.
There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name.
Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,
Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.
Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there. Those who remained fled to the hills.
The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.
The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.
What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”
Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.
Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar.
When God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there.
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.
He said, “Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”
They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.
He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, “But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”
The servant said to him, “What if the woman isn’t willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?”
Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again.
Yahweh, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring—he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this oath to me. Only you shall not bring my son there again.”
the field which Abraham purchased from the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife.
When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.
Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
He left that place, and dug another well. They didn’t argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, “For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
He built an altar there, and called on Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Go now to the flock and get me two good young goats from there. I will make them savory food for your father, such as he loves.
until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send, and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”
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