שַׁמָּה
sham.mah
Shammah
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Shammah: A Hebrew Proper Name Shammah (שַׁמָּה) is a Hebrew proper name that appears three times in the biblical text. As a proper noun, it functions as a personal identifier rather than a word with semantic meaning that varies across contexts. The name is attested in the Hebrew Bible but without sufficient contextual data provided here to determine the specific individuals who bore this name or their roles in biblical narrative. The limited attestation of Shammah—appearing only three times—suggests it was not among the most common names in ancient Israel, though its presence across multiple passages indicates it held some significance in biblical genealogies or narratives. Without additional lexical data specifying the historical or genealogical contexts of these occurrences, the broader significance of the name within biblical tradition cannot be determined from the information provided. Like many biblical proper names, Shammah likely carried meaning related to either a personal characteristic or divine attribute in its original etymological context, but such meaning would require etymological analysis beyond the scope of the lexical entry given.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
3 total occurrences across the text
These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the descendants of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
Genesis 36:17These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
1 Chronicles 1:37The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.