Lexicon
שָׂמַח
sa.mach
H8055
H:V Hebrew

to rejoice

158
Occurrences
31
Books
Hebrew
Language

sa.mach denotes rejoicing or being glad, and in Piel forms causing another person to be glad.

The dominant use depicts people, communities, or even personified things rejoicing in response to deliverance, gifts, worship, prosperity, or other circumstances. Piel forms mark a causative use, where a person, a word, wine, or God makes someone glad.

Senses in use

  1. Rejoice or be glad in response to an occasion · dominant

    Qal forms portray the subject's joy in a stated circumstance: in 1 Samuel 11:9 the men of Jabesh respond to the report of coming deliverance, and in 1 Chronicles 29:9 the people and David respond to willing offerings. The same use occurs in worship and communal celebration: in Deuteronomy 12:18 the addressee is to rejoice before the LORD after eating, while in Isaiah 66:10 those who love Jerusalem are commanded to rejoice with her.

  2. Make another person glad · occasional

    Piel forms place the action on a recipient of gladness. In Deuteronomy 24:5 the newly married man is to make his wife rejoice; in Proverbs 12:25 a good word makes a weighed-down heart glad; and in Isaiah 56:7 God says that he will make people joyful in his house of prayer.

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses the APB commonly uses “rejoice,” while also using “glad,” “joyful,” “merry,” and phrases such as “brings joy.” These renderings confirm the clauses' overall presentation rather than assigning a separate English equivalent to every form.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture