טוֹב

נָאוֶה nâʼveh · H5000 · beautiful, lovely, appropriate

טוֹב (ṭôwb, H2896) ("good, beautiful, better") and נָאוֶה (nâʼveh, H5000) ("comely, seemly, becoming") are evaluative adjectives with overlapping positive-quality semantics, plausibly substitutable in contexts of appropriateness or aesthetic and moral goodness.

ἀγαθός agathós · G18 · good, goodness, good act

Greek ἀγαθός (agathos) serves as the standard Septuagint rendering of Hebrew טוֹב (tov) across its semantic range of goodness, moral excellence, beneficial quality, and favorable evaluation, functioning as the primary cross-linguistic equivalent.

καλός kalós · G2570 · good, fine, praiseworthy

Hebrew טוֹב and Greek καλός both denote goodness/beauty with substantial semantic overlap, though καλός emphasizes visible beauty and moral nobility while טוֹב covers a broader evaluative range including utility, pleasantness, and abstract goodness.

טָב ṭâb · H2869 · fine, good

Aramaic cognate form of Hebrew טוֹב, sharing the core semantic range of 'good, fine' across the sister languages.

ἀγαθωσύνη agathōsýnē · G19 · good, goodness, good act

טוֹב (ṭôwb, H2896) טוֹב is the foundational Hebrew adjective for moral and qualitative goodness spanning concrete and abstract senses, while ἀγαθωσύνη (agathōsýnē, G19) ἀγαθωσύνη is the abstract Greek noun denoting the quality or virtue of goodness itself, regularly rendering the Hebrew term in LXX contexts where moral excellence or beneficence is in view.

καλῶς kalōs · G2573 · good, fine, praiseworthy

καλῶς (kalōs, G2573) renders the adverbial sense of טוֹב (ṭôwb, H2896) meaning 'well' or 'rightly,' functioning as the manner/quality adverb corresponding to the Hebrew adjective's 'good' semantics in contexts of proper action or favorable outcome.

κρεῖσσον kreîsson · G2908 · better, i.e. greater advantage

Greek κρεῖσσον (kreîsson, G2908) serves as the comparative form ('better') corresponding to Hebrew טוֹב (ṭôwb, H2896), which encompasses both positive/absolute sense ('good') and comparative sense ('better') within a single lexeme; the Greek specifically isolates the comparative register that Hebrew expresses contextually.

κρείττων kreíttōn · G2909 · better, superior, greater

κρείττων emphasizes comparative superiority in quality or excellence (literally 'stronger,' figuratively 'better/nobler'), whereas טוֹב covers a broader semantic range including inherent goodness, beauty, pleasantness, and moral/aesthetic quality without necessarily invoking comparison.

χρηστός chrēstós · G5543 · fine, better, good

Greek χρηστός emphasizes functional usefulness and practical moral character ('employed, useful in manner or morals'), while Hebrew טוֹב has broader semantic range including aesthetic goodness ('beautiful'), general quality assessment ('better, best'), and emotional states ('cheerful, glad'), though both share the core moral/ethical 'good' sense.

χρηστότης chrēstótēs · G5544 · that which is useful, what is benevolent, benevolence

χρηστότης (chrēstótēs, G5544) χρηστότης emphasizes moral excellence and useful goodness in character, while טוֹב (ṭôwb, H2896) טוֹב encompasses a broader semantic range including physical beauty, favorable circumstances, and general goodness; the Greek term represents a narrower, ethically-focused subset of the Hebrew concept.

ἀρέσκω aréskō · G700 · to please

Greek ἀρέσκω specifically denotes the action of pleasing or being agreeable to someone, representing the relational/interpersonal subset of Hebrew טוֹב's broader semantic range that encompasses inherent goodness, beauty, and favorable quality independent of a recipient's evaluation.

βελτίον beltíon · G957 · fine, well, good

Greek βελτίον represents the comparative degree 'better' as a subset of Hebrew טוֹב's broader semantic range covering both positive evaluation ('good, beautiful, fine') and its comparative form ('better'), making it a direct cross-linguistic equivalent for the comparative sense.

Good002001001031

טוֹב is the ubiquitous adjective for goodness, describing God's assessment of creation as good at each stage (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12).

Just002001002016

טוֹב carries a genuine moral-rightness sense in the fixed collocation "good and right," illustrated repeatedly (Deuteronomy 6:18, Joshua 9:25, Jeremiah 26:14, "do to us as it seems good and right").

Right002001003013

The same collocation "good and right" (2 Samuel 15:3, 2 Chronicles 31:20, "good, right, and true") genuinely illustrates a distinct rightness sense standing alongside the word's dominant, far more general "good" meaning.

Names of Locations003001010

This entry carries no independent "Names of Locations" sense of its own; every genuine tagged occurrence of טוֹב is the common adjective/noun for "good," not a place name. The domain is bundle-shared with the similarly-spelled place name Tob (טוֹב (Ṭôwb, H2897)). See טוֹב (Ṭôwb, H2897).

Objects001

The word can be substantivized to denote a good thing or good things generally, a concrete object or possession deemed good.

Safe002003003019

The adjective also conveys well-being and security, a condition of safety and favorable circumstance.

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

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.