Aligned sentence by sentence
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Part One · Chapter Forty-Five — Shemaʿ: Hearing, Acceptance, and Divine Knowledge
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Shemaʿ is an equivocal term: it can have the sense of literal hearing, and it can have the sense of acceptance. As for the sense of literal hearing: 'it shall not be heard from your mouth' (Ex 23:13); 'and the voice was heard in Pharaoh's house' (Gen 45:16) — and this is frequent.
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And equally frequent is shemaʿ in the sense of acceptance: 'and they did not hearken to Moses' (Ex 6:9); 'if they hearken and serve' (Job 36:11); 'and they will be hearkened to' (Deut 28:2 variant reading); 'and he will not hearken to your words' (Josh 1:18).
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And it can have the sense of knowledge and understanding: 'a nation whose language you do not know' (Deut 28:49) — its interpretation is: whose speech you do not understand.
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Every term of hearing that comes in reference to God: if the plain sense of the text is that it belongs to the first sense, it is an expression for apprehension — which is of the third sense. 'And the Lord heard, in His hearing of your murmurings' (Num 14:27) — all this is knowledge, intellectual apprehension. And if the plain sense of the text is that it belongs to the second sense, it is an expression for God, exalted be He, having answered the petitioner's prayer or having not answered it: 'I will surely hear his cry, and I will hearken, for I am gracious' (Ex 22:22–23); 'incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear' (Is 37:17); 'and the Lord did not hearken to your voice, and He did not give ear to you' (Deut 1:45); 'even though you multiply your prayer I am not hearing' (Is 1:15); 'for I am not hearing you' (Jer 7:16) — and this is frequent.