HEAR, HEARING. This word is used in several senses in Scripture. In its obvious and literal acceptation, it denotes the exercise of that bodily sense of which the ear is the organ; and as hearing is a sense by which instruction is conveyed to the mind, and the mind is excited to attention and to obedience, so the ideas of attention and obedience are also grafted on the expression or sense of hearing. God is said, speaking after the manner of men, to hear prayer, that is, to attend to it, and comply with the requests it contains: "I love the Lord, because he hath heard," hath attended to, hath complied with, "the voice of my supplication," Ps 116:1. On the contrary, God is said not to hear, that is, not to comply with, the requests of sinners, Joh 9:31. Men are said to hear, when they attend to, or comply with, the request of each other, or when they obey the commands of God: "He who is of God heareth," obeyeth, practiseth, "God's words," Joh 8:47. "My sheep hear my voice," and show their attention to it, by following me, Joh 10:27. "This is my beloved Son: hear ye him," Mt 17:5. This seems to be an allusion to De 18:15,18-19: "The Lord shall raise up unto you a prophet; him shall ye hear;" which is also expressly applied in Ac 3:22. The other senses which may be attached to the word "hear," seem to rise from the preceding, and may be referred to the same ideas.