אַוָּה
ʼavvâh · H185 · Hebrew · 7 occurrences
Meanings
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desire, craving, lust
State in which one senses a physical desire for food or sex; this desire is associated with one's נֶפֶשׁ and can be both good and evil
ExamplesDeuteronomy 12:15 However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as the gazelle and the deer.
Jeremiah 2:24 A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion. Who can turn her away in her mating season? None who seek her will grow weary; In her month they will find her.
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desire, longing
State in which one experiences a desire to see something happen or to do something oneself; this desire is associated with one's נֶפֶשׁ and can be both good and evil
ExamplesDeuteronomy 18:6 Now if a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and he comes whenever he desires to the place which the LORD chooses,
1 Samuel 23:20 Now then, O king, come down, since you fully desire to do so; and our part shall be to hand him over to the king.
How it’s used In 2 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
7 occurrences in 2 groups
- נֶפֶשׁsoul, life 6
- יmy 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
7 occurrences in 2 groups
- בin/on/with 10
- לto/for 2
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 4 words
- חֵפֶץ chêphets · H2656 · pleasure, desire
- Both occupy the desire/wish semantic space, overlapping in the senses of desire, pleasure, and delight.
- חֵשֶׁק chêsheq · H2837 · desire, long
- Both words are distinct words for overlapping affective or volitional states, meaning "desire, long."
- רָצוֹן râtsôwn · H7522 · acceptance, favor
- Both belong to the sense-field of desire and pleasure, overlapping in meaning though the evidence for their relationship is comparatively thin given אַוָּה (ʼavvâh, H185)'s rarity.
- עֲגָבָה ʻăgâbâh · H5691 · lust
- Both words are distinct Hebrew words for intense desire.
In the other Testament 1 word
- ἐπιθυμία epithymía · G1939 · longing for, desire, coveting
- Greek ἐπιθυμία (epithumia) functions as the standard LXX rendering of Hebrew אַוָּה, capturing both the neutral sense of desire and the morally negative sense of illicit craving or lust that the Hebrew term encompasses.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Desire002004001001001
- אַוָּה names strong desire or craving, as the desire for meat that permits slaughtering an animal within one's own gates.
- Wish002004002001001
- The word can also express a personal wish or longing for something specific, as whatever one's soul desires to eat.
Word family 7 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H185. avvah [אַוָּה] noun feminine desire — construct אַוַּת Deu 12:15 Deu 12:5t.; suffix…
[אַוָּה] noun feminine desire — construct אַוַּת Deu 12:15 Deu 12:5t.; suffix אַוָּתִי Hos 10:10 — desire, will, usually followed by נֶפֶשׁ; of natural human desire (morally indifferent), for meat Deu 12:15, Deu 12:20, Deu 12:21; of longing for sanctuary Deu 18:6; of royal good pleasure 1Sa 23:20; without נֶפֶשׁ, of wild-ass Jer 2:24; of divine will Hos 10:10.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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