Word study
Lovely
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “lovely”. 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 “lovely” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- נָאוֶה nâvehcomely, seemlytranslated this way 5 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H5000Adjective · Translated: lovely 5, fitting 1, unseemly 1, befit 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Psalm 147:1 Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and lovely to praise Him!
Song of Solomon 1:5 I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
- יָפֶה yâphehfair, beautifultranslated this way 2 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H3303Adjective · Translated: beautiful 25, handsome 4, sleek 3, lovely 2Full study and all 38 verses →
Esther 2:7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.
Amos 8:13 In that day the lovely young women — the young men as well — will faint from thirst.
- טוֹב ṭôbpleasing, goodtranslated this way 1 time of its 19 uses · Strong’s H2895Verb · Translated: merry 3, done well 3, better 2, good 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Numbers 24:5 How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!
- יְדִיד yedîdbelovedtranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3039Noun · Translated: beloved 7, love 1, lovely 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Psalm 84:1 For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts!
- נָעִים nâîmpleasant, delightfultranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s H5273Adjective · Translated: pleasant 3, delightful 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Psalm 135:3 Hallelujah, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.
- מַחְמָד machmâddesire, desirable thingtranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s H4261Noun · Translated: desire 3, precious 2, treasures 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
- טוּב ṭûbgood things, goods, goodnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 32 uses · Strong’s H2898Noun · Translated: goodness 11, best 4, good things 3, prosperity 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Zechariah 9:17 How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
Greek words (New Testament)
- προσφιλής prosphilḗspleasing, acceptabletranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4375Adjective · Translated: lovely 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think on these things.
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.