Word study
Delightful
8 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “delightful”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “delightful” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- נָעִים nâîmpleasant, delightfultranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H5273Adjective · Translated: pleasant 3, delightful 2Full study and all 13 verses →
2 Samuel 1:23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
Song of Solomon 1:16 How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.
- נָעֵם nâêmbe pleasant, delightful, lovelytranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H5276Verb · Translated: pleasant 3, delightful 1, delight 1, tasty 1Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Samuel 1:26 I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.
- שָׁפַר shâpharbe beautiful, fair, comelytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H8231Verb · Translated: delightful 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Psalm 16:6 The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places; surely my inheritance is delightful.
- חֵפֶץ chêphetsdelight, pleasuretranslated this way 1 time of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2656Noun · Translated: desire 7, delight 6, pleasure 4, desired 3Full study and all 37 verses →
Ecclesiastes 12:10 The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.
- טוֹב ṭôbpleasant, agreeable, goodtranslated this way 1 time of its 538 uses · Strong’s H2896Adjective · Translated: good 249, better 72, prosperity 19, good things 12Full study and all 499 verses →
- יָפָה yâphâhbe fair, beautifultranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3302Verb · Translated: beautiful 3, adorn 2, most handsome 1, delightful 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Song of Solomon 4:10 How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.
- נַעֲמָן naămânpleasantnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5282Noun · Translated: delightful 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines —
- שַׁעְשֻׁעַ shashuaenjoymenttranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H8191Noun · Translated: delight 7, delighting 1, delightful 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Jeremiah 31:20 Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.