H7592 — שָׁאַל (shâʼal)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7592
Original: שָׁאַל (also שָׁאֵל shâʼêl)
Transliteration: shâʼal
Pronunciation: shaw-al'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 156 unique verses (203 tokens) across 27 books
First Occurrence: Gen 24:47 — "And I asked (shâʼal) her, and said, Whose daughter art thou?"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to inquire; by implication, to request; by extension, to demand. Rendered in KJV: ask (counsel, on), beg, borrow, lay to charge, consult, demand, desire, earnestly, enquire, greet, obtain leave, lend, pray, request, require, salute, straitly, surely, wish.

The semantic range runs on a gradient from neutral information-gathering ("inquire") through interpersonal requesting ("beg, petition, pray") to transactional transfer ("borrow, lend") and authoritative demand ("require, demand"). The same verb covers both oracular consultation of YHWH and a child's question to a parent.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Hebrew parser unavailable during generation (TF out-of-memory). Based on lexicon data and the KJV rendering patterns in the occurrence set, stems attested for שׁאל in BH are:

Stem	Attested Use
Qal	Primary — ask, inquire, request (the vast majority of occurrences)
Niphal	Reflexive/passive — "ask leave for oneself" (e.g., 1 Sam 20:6, 28)
Piel	Intensive — "earnestly inquire/beg" (occasional)
Hiphil	Causative — "grant a petition, lend" (1 Sam 1:28 — "I have lent him to the LORD"; Exo 12:36)

The Hiphil causative ("lend") develops from Qal ("ask/borrow"): the lender is the one who causes the borrower's request to succeed.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Group	Verses	%
asked / ask / asketh / askest / shall ask (etc.)	~75	~48%
enquired / enquire / to enquire	~15	~10%
required / require / demand	~8	~5%
borrow / lent / is lent / was borrowed	~8	~5%
desire / desired / desireth / wish / wished	~8	~5%
request / requested / petition	~6	~4%
ask counsel / consulter / consulted	~6	~4%
beg / saluted / greet / pray / earnestly / straitly / surely	~10	~6%
(syntactic filler in verse header renderings)	~20	~13%

The broad KJV variety reflects a single Hebrew verb stretched across English semantic domains that English splits into separate lexemes (ask / borrow / require / greet).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
1 Samuel	28	3.5
Haggai	1	2.6
Judges	13	2.1
Jonah	1	2.1
2 Samuel	10	1.4
1 Kings	9	1.1
Micah	1	1.0
Ecclesiastes	2	0.9
Joshua	5	0.8
2 Kings	6	0.8
Jeremiah	11	0.8
Deuteronomy	8	0.8
Genesis	11	0.7
Job	7	0.7
Exodus	7	0.6
Lamentations	1	0.6
1 Chronicles	5	0.5
2 Chronicles	4	0.5
Isaiah	7	0.5
Nehemiah	2	0.5
Zechariah	1	0.5
Hosea	1	0.5
Psalms	10	0.4
Ezra	1	0.4
Proverbs	2	0.2
Numbers	1	0.1
Ezekiel	1	0.1

Pattern: 1 Samuel carries the highest density by a wide margin — driven by the oracle/Urim consultation narratives (David "inquiring of the LORD" before battle, Saul's failed inquiries, Hannah's petition) and, pointedly, by Israel's request for a king. Judges is second, dominated by tribal oracle-consultations. The verb clusters in the historical-oracular corpus; it is rare in Pentateuchal law and almost absent from Ezekiel.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Ordinary interrogative — asking for information¶

Gen 24:47 — "And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou?"
Gen 32:29 — "Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name"
Gen 37:15 — "the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?"
Neh 1:2 — "I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped"

2. Catechetical — child asking a parent about covenant meaning¶

Exo 13:14 — "when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this?"
Deut 6:20 — "when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies..."
Josh 4:6, 21 — "when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?"

3. Oracular consultation of YHWH (often with Urim, ark, or prophet)¶

Num 27:21 — "he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim"
Judg 1:1 — "the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us?"
1 Sam 22:10 — "he inquired of the LORD for him"
1 Sam 28:6 — "when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not"
2 Sam 2:1; 5:19, 23 — David "inquired of the LORD" before each campaign

4. Illegitimate/idolatrous consultation¶

Deut 18:11 — "a consulter (shôʼêl) with familiar spirits" (participial form)
1 Chr 10:13 — Saul "asked counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it"
Hos 4:12 — "My people ask counsel at their stocks"
Eze 21:21 — Nebuchadnezzar "consulted with images" using divination

5. Petition / request granted by a superior¶

1 Sam 1:17, 20, 27 — Hannah's petition for a son ("the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked")
1 Kgs 3:5, 10, 11 — "Ask what I shall give thee" (Solomon's request for wisdom)
2 Kgs 2:9–10 — "Ask what I shall do for thee" (Elijah to Elisha); "Thou hast asked a hard thing"
Psa 2:8 — "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance" (messianic)

6. Accommodated / self-willed request — granted but not approved¶

1 Sam 8:10 — "Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king" (cf. 12:13, 17, 19)
Deut 14:26 — "whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee" (paired with תָּאָה, the permissive-appetite frame)
Psa 78:18 — "they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust"
Psa 106:15 (cf. 78:29) — context of desire-driven asking that God grants to judgment

7. Commercial / transactional — borrow, lend, demand back¶

Exo 3:22; 11:2; 12:35–36 — Israel "borrowed" jewels of the Egyptians (Hiphil "lent")
Exo 22:14 — "if a man borrow ought of his neighbour"
2 Kgs 4:3 — Elisha: "Go, borrow thee vessels abroad"
1 Sam 1:28 — "I have lent him to the LORD" (Hiphil of shaʼal — causative: grant-what-was-asked)

8. Greeting formulae — "ask after [one's] welfare"¶

Gen 43:27 — "he asked them of their welfare"
Exo 18:7 — "they asked each other of their welfare"
Judg 18:15; 1 Sam 10:4; 17:22; 25:5 — idiomatic salutation
Psa 122:6 — "Pray for (ask the peace of) Jerusalem"

9. Divine demand / required response¶

Deut 10:12 — "what doth the LORD thy God require (shâʼal) of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God..."
Mic 6:8 context overlap (though Mic 6:8 uses darash) — compare the "require" semantic
Job 38:3; 40:7; 42:4 — "I will demand of thee, and answer thou me" (YHWH's courtroom interrogation)

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אָמַר (ʼâmar) "say"	H559	78x (50%)	"asked X, saying" — formulaic discourse frame
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	49x (31%)	"inquired of the LORD" — oracle formula
אֲשֶׁר (ʼăsher)	H834	36x (23%)	"whatsoever X asketh" — relative clause framing
לֹא (lôʼ)	H3808	34x (22%)	"hast not asked" — reproach, or negated inquiry
נָתַן (nâthan) "give"	H5414	29x (19%)	"he asked ... and the LORD gave" — petition-grant pair
אֱלֹהִים (ʼĕlôhîm)	H430	27x (17%)	"asked counsel of God"
מֶלֶךְ (melek) "king"	H4428	22x (14%)	asking a king / asking for a king (1 Sam 8)
דָּוִד (David)	H1732	20x (13%)	David's habitual oracle-inquiry before battle
מָה (mâh) "what"	H4100	19x (12%)	"what mean these stones?" / "what doth the LORD require?"
דָּבָר (dâbâr) "word/thing"	H1697	17x (11%)	"this thing thou hast asked"

Typical frame: shâʼal + object + min/et + source + lēʼmōr + content — "X asked [what] of [Y], saying [...]." The shâʼal + nâthan pair (29x) is the petition-grant template; its negation ("asked but was not given / answered not") is the judgment template (1 Sam 28:6).

Word Family / Cognates¶

H7585 שְׁאוֹל (sheʼôl) — Sheol / the grave; derived from the same root (likely "the place that asks/demands/never satisfied"; cf. Prov 30:15–16)
H7586 שָׁאוּל (Shâʼûl) — Saul, proper name from shâʼal: "asked for" — the king Israel asked for in 1 Sam 8
H7596 שְׁאֵלָה (sheʼêlâh) — request, petition (noun from the verb)
H4862 מִשְׁאָלָה (mishʼâlâh) — petition, desire (e.g., Psa 37:4 "He shall give thee the desires of thine heart")
H7593 שְׁאֵל (sheʼêl, Aramaic) — Aramaic cognate (ask, demand; Daniel, Ezra)

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H7592.

Antonyms¶

No direct antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H7592.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
דָּרַשׁ (dârash)	H1875	"enquire," "require" (Deut 18:11; 2 Sa; Psa)	darash = seek out diligently, frequent (often cultic/study); shâʼal = put the question / lodge the request. darash = the pursuit; shâʼal = the speech-act.
בָּקַשׁ (bâqash)	H1245	"require," "enquire," "ask"	baqash = seek, search for (often an object or person); shâʼal = verbal asking. baqash of YHWH = seek His face; shâʼal of YHWH = put a question via oracle.
שְׁאֵל / בְּעָא	H7593 / H1156	Aramaic equivalents rendered "asked" in Dan/Ezra	Cognate Aramaic roots; functional parallels in the Aramaic corpus.
רָבָה (râbâh)	H7235	"ask" (1x overlap)	Rare overlap; râbâh normally = "multiply, make great."
לָוָה (lâvâh) / עָבַט (ʻâbaṭ) / מָעַט (mâʻaṭ)	H3867 / H5670 / H4591	"borrow"	These denote actual lending/pawning/debt relations; shâʼal "borrow" emphasizes the requesting moment of the transaction.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002004001009008	Speak	Covers the verbal act of asking / inquiring.
002004001001001	Desire	Captures the petition / request side of voiced desire.
002003002017	Non-Possess	Fits transactional usages such as borrow / obtain from another.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occ	PMI	Score	Notes
αἰτέω (aitéō) G154	54	6.98	27.97	Primary — "ask, request" (interpersonal request expecting delivery)
ἐρωτάω (erōtáō) G2065	51	7.02	27.72	Primary — "ask a question, interrogate"
ἐπερωτάω (eperōtáō) G1905	37	6.55	23.84	"Ask upon, consult" (often for oracular inquiry)
ἀποκρίνομαι (apokrínomai) G611	11	2.92	7.26	Context overlap in Q&A scenes
αἴτημα (aítēma) G155	3	5.20	7.21	Cognate noun — "petition, thing asked"
ἔπω (épō) G2036	62	1.56	6.45	Discourse-frame co-occurrence (not a semantic equivalent)

The LXX splits shâʼal's semantic range along the Greek distinction Hebrew does not make: aitéō (petition) vs. erōtáō/eperōtáō (inquiry). This bifurcation carries into the NT — with αἰτέω used for humans asking God and erōtáō preferred for peer-to-peer questioning (though the distinction is not absolute).