שמע

Several words are used in Hebrew for the idea of communication. As in English, the concept is directional, with different words for speaking (sending) and hearing (receiving).

However, this directionality is sometimes unclear. This happens in English as well, as in “Alice spoke with Bob” which implies a two way communication but is explicitly unclear which of the two actually spoke.

For this reason, and due to grammatical structure, the Hebrew is likewise often not entirely clear as to whether a given communication event is bidirectional or which party did the speaking.

Shmay is the root word of the name of Abraham's son Ishmael

Another word with essentially the same meaning is yen

Job 20:3 is one of many verses which utilizes both shmay and yen.

audit yen vs. shmay for subtle differences in meaning