Senses
1. heaven(s), sky — The visible sky or the celestial realm above the earth; Hebrew שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) is inherently dual/plural in form. The two clusters differ only in grammatical state: S141879 includes construct (שְׁמֵי, 'heavens of') and absolute forms with prepositions, while S141880 shows absolute plural. All translations converge on a single referent: eng 'heavens/the-heavens', spa 'cielo/cielos', hin आकाश, arb السَّمَاء/السَّمَاوَات, kor 하늘, swa mbingu. No semantic distinction warrants separate senses; the split is purely morphosyntactic (construct vs. absolute, with/without article). 38×
AR["السَّمَاءِ","السَّمَاوَاتُ","السَّمَاوَاتِ"]·ben["আকাশ","আকাশের","স্বর্গ","স্বর্গের"]·DE["Himmel"]·EN["of-the-heavens","the-heavens"]·FR["les-cieux"]·heb["שמים"]·HI["आकाश","आकाश-की","आकाश-के","स्वर्ग","स्वर्ग-के"]·ID["-langit","langit"]·IT["cielo"]·jav["langit","swarga"]·KO["하늘","하늘-의","하늘-이","하늘의"]·PT["céu","céus","os-céus"]·RU["-небес","небес","небеса","небесной","небесном","небесные"]·ES["el-cielo","los-cielos"]·SW["angani","mbingu"]·TR["gökler","göklerin","gökten","göğün"]·urd["آسمان","آسمان-سے","آسمان-کا","آسمان-کی","آسمان-کے"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [שְׁמַ֫יִן] n.m. pl. heavens (BH [שָׁמַי], שָׁמַיִם, √ שׁמה);—always emph. שְׁמַיָּא: 1. visible sky Je 10:11 Dn 4:8, 10, 17, 19, 20, 27, 28; עוֹף שׁ׳ 2:38; צִפְּרֵי שׁ׳ 4:9, 18; טַל שׁ׳ v 12, 20, 22, 30; 5:21; רוּחֵי שׁ׳ 7:2 winds of the sky; עֲנָנֵי שׁ׳ v 13; heavens + earth = universe Je 10:11, where God shews signs Dn 6:28. 2. heavens as abode of God Dn 2:28; 4:31, hence, fig., as ruling v…