Lexicon
שָׂמֵחַ
sa.me.ach
H8056
H:A Hebrew

glad

20
Occurrences
10
Books
Hebrew
Language

sa.me.ach describes being joyful or pleased, whether in celebration and blessing or, negatively, at another's harm.

The prevailing use describes people or hearts marked by joy in celebration, well-being, blessing, or God's great deeds. A smaller group places the same positive disposition in condemned settings: delight in evil, calamity, or another person's harm.

Senses in use

  1. Joyful in celebration or well-being · dominant

    The adjective describes people returning to their tents with hearts made joyful by the good done for David, Solomon, and Israel in 2 Chronicles 7:10; in Deuteronomy 16:15, the singular form stands with the command to celebrate because of blessing on produce and work. It also characterizes a heart affected by toil in Ecclesiastes 2:10 and a community responding to the LORD's great deeds in Psalm 126:3.

  2. Joy directed toward evil or another's harm · occasional

    The plural adjective identifies those who rejoice in doing evil in Proverbs 2:14. In Proverbs 17:5 it marks the person pleased at calamity, while Psalm 35:26 speaks of those rejoicing at the speaker's harm; both contexts attach adverse consequences or shame to that response.

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses the APB uses "glad," "joyful," "rejoicing," and "merry-hearted" in clauses involving this term. Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, those variations present the verses' overall wording rather than separate lexical definitions.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture