To prop (literally or figuratively); reflexively, to lean upon or take hold of (in a favorable or unfavorable sense)
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The Hebrew verb samak describes giving support, leaning or bracing oneself, and placing a hand upon someone or something. Worshipers lay a hand on an offering, Aaron places both hands on the live goat while confessing Israel's sins, Moses lays hands on Joshua in a public commissioning, Samson braces against supporting pillars before a deadly collapse, Assyria mocks reliance on Egypt as leaning on a splintered reed.
Reader summary
Full entry for סָמַךְ (H5564) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb samak describes giving support, leaning or bracing oneself, and placing a hand upon someone or something. Worshipers lay a hand on an offering, Aaron places both hands on the live goat while confessing Israel's sins, Moses lays hands on Joshua in a public commissioning, Samson braces against supporting pillars before a deadly collapse.
The BSB source-word alignment has 48 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include He is to lay (5), are to lay (4), laid (3), lay (3), Sustain me (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 27:37. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (14), Psalms (11), Isaiah (6), Numbers (4).
The Hebrew verb samak describes giving support, leaning or bracing oneself, and placing a hand upon someone or something. Worshipers lay a hand on an offering, Aaron places both hands on the live goat while confessing Israel's sins, Moses lays hands on Joshua in a public commissioning, Samson braces against supporting pillars before a deadly collapse, Assyria mocks reliance on Egypt as leaning on a splintered reed, a steadfast mind leans on God, and the psalms praise the Lord for sustaining sleepers and upholding those who fall.
Song of Songs asks for bodily refreshment. The physical action does not carry one automatic spiritual mechanism. Responsible teaching identifies who supports or leans, what bears the weight, and what ritual, political, violent, relational, or pastoral context assigns meaning. It must not claim mechanical transfer through touch, imitate Samson's lethal act, spiritualize away food or care, shame assistive dependence, or make human leaders the unquestionable support that only God can be.
Samak joins concrete pressure and support with ritual hand placement, public commissioning, bodily bracing, political reliance, steadfast trust, divine sustaining, and physical refreshment. The object and enacted setting determine what the contact or dependence signifies.
He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, so it can be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
The worshiper lays a hand on the burnt offering within the prescribed process of acceptance and atonement.
Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.
Aaron places both hands on the live goat while confessing Israel's iniquities before its wilderness removal.
And laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord had instructed through Moses.
Moses publicly lays hands on Joshua and commissions him according to the Lord's instruction.
Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Joshua's wisdom and Moses' hand placement appear within the completed succession and Israel's obedience.
And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other,
Samson braces against the supporting pillars immediately before bringing the crowded Philistine temple down.
Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
The Assyrian envoy compares trusting Egypt with leaning on a splintered reed that wounds the hand.
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
Isaiah associates perfect peace with a mind kept steadfast because its trust rests upon God.
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
The threatened psalmist can sleep and wake because the Lord continues to sustain him.
Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the Lord is holding his hand.
The psalm acknowledges a righteous person may fall while confessing that the Lord holds his hand.
The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The praise poem declares that the Lord upholds those who fall and lifts people bowed down.
Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
The woman's poetic request for raisins and apples names bodily refreshment amid lovesick faintness.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Physical support becomes relational dependence—leaning on God signals covenant trust; leaning wrongly signals faithlessness.
Physical support becomes relational dependence—leaning on God signals covenant trust; leaning wrongly signals faithlessness.
to prop (literally or figuratively); reflexively, to lean upon or take hold of (in a favorable or unfavorable sense) BDB: lean Usage: bear up, establish, (up-) hold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay (self), sustain.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 48 lexical occurrence verses.
סָמַךְ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Samak begins with contact and weight, but each setting gives that action a different theological role. In Leviticus, hand placement belongs to prescribed sacrificial rites; the text governs its relation to acceptance, confession, and removal of sin rather than a free-standing technique. Numbers and Deuteronomy place Moses' hands within God's instruction, public succession, Joshua's Spirit-given qualification, and communal recognition.
Touch is significant, but no leader can manufacture the Spirit, wisdom, office, or authority through pressure alone. Judges 16 uses the same physical field for Samson bracing against pillars in an act that kills a crowded assembly; the narrative must not become a model for violent protest or self-destruction. Second Kings exposes unreliable geopolitical support through the image of a reed that pierces the one leaning on it.
Isaiah and the psalms direct reliance toward God, yet they also acknowledge sleep, falls, bowed bodies, and the need to be held. Song of Songs names food as support. Faithful teaching receives human help gratefully, tests what it leans upon, commissions leaders transparently, and pairs prayer with nourishment, accessibility, clinical care, and nonviolent safety.
Ps.145.14
Samak is a Hebrew verb organized around applying weight or support. It can describe laying a hand, bracing against an object, leaning in reliance, making firm, sustaining, or upholding; physical contact, grammatical object, and ritual or narrative setting select the sense.
The New Testament records hands laid in healing, blessing, commissioning, and identification while locating gifts and authority in God's action. It also commands material support, honors interdependence in Christ's body, and rejects violence and leader domination as substitutes for faithful service.