sha.va denotes an urgent appeal or outcry, often from distress and directed toward God or a rescuer.

The attested use is an urgent outcry or appeal in need: speakers call out over violence, oppression, abandonment, or want, sometimes seeking an answer, help, or rescue. The same usage also describes afflicted people, wounded persons, and hungry young ravens as those raising such an appeal.

1. Urgent appeal from distress or need · dominant

   Finite forms describe individuals or groups raising an appeal amid violence, oppression, or need: in Habakkuk 1:2 the APB renders the speaker’s complaint, “I cry out to you of violence,” while in Job 24:12 it renders the wounded person’s action “cries out.” Participial forms identify the afflicted and needy as persons making such an appeal in Job 29:12 and Psalm 72:12; in Psalm 28:2, the infinitive construct occurs in the plea for the voice of supplications to be heard as hands are lifted toward the sanctuary.

   Habakkuk 1:2Job 24:12Job 29:12Psalm 28:2Psalm 72:12Isaiah 58:9

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously presents the action with “cry,” “cry out,” “cries out,” and “cry for help,” as in Habakkuk 1:2, Job 24:12, and Isaiah 58:9. These are renderings of whole translated clauses, definitions for the lemma.