נָאָה
nâʼâh · H4998 · Hebrew · 3 occurrences
Meanings
-
to be beautiful
State in which humans or parts of their body are considered physically attractive
ExamplesSong of Solomon 1:10 “Your cheeks are delightful with jewelry, Your neck with strings of beads.”
-
to be appropriate, to be welcome
Literally: to be beautiful; hence: state in which a certain quality or event is considered appropriate in a particular context
ExamplesPsalm 93:5 Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness is pleasing to Your house, LORD, forevermore.
Isaiah 52:7 How delightful on the mountains Are the feet of one who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
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
Who or what does itSubject
3 occurrences in 3 groups
- לְחִיjaw 1
- קֹדֶשׁholiness 1
- רֶגֶלfoot, leg 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
3 occurrences in 4 groups
- עַלon, upon, over, against+ הַרmountain 1
- בin/on/with+ תּוֹרdove 1
- לto/for+ בַּיִתhouse, household 1
- לto/for+ אֹרֶךְlength 1
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 3 words
- יָפָה yâphâh · H3302 · to be beautiful, to attractive, to be handsome
- Both words are stative verbs denoting beauty or comeliness and could substitute for each other in suitable contexts.
- יָטַב yâṭab · H3190 · to tend, to adorn, to improve
- Both words share aesthetic-appropriateness senses (“be comely” for יָטַב (yâṭab, H3190), “be beautiful, be comely” for נָאָה (nâʼâh, H4998)). יָטַב (yâṭab, H3190) has a much broader range (moral goodness, benefit, improvement, diligence and more), whereas נָאָה (nâʼâh, H4998) is tightly focused on beauty or comeliness; the two overlap only in the sense “be comely.”
- נָעֵם nâʻêm · H5276 · to be lovely, to be pleasant, to be sweet
- Both words describe pleasant or aesthetic qualities ("beautiful, comely" and "pleasant, sweet"). They are distinct Hebrew roots describing overlapping qualities of beauty and pleasantness.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Good002001001031
- נָאָה describes what is fitting, becoming, or beautiful in a favorable sense, as in Psalm 93:5's holiness being fitting for the LORD's house, or the beautiful feet of the messenger bringing good news (Isaiah 52:7).
- Right002001003013
- The word also carries the sense of what is proper or appropriate to a situation, as in Psalm 93:5's holiness "befitting" the LORD's house, tying the word to fittingness or rightness rather than mere physical attractiveness.
Word family 3 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4998. naah [נָאָה] verb only Pi`lel be comely, befitting (Thes Ol§ 251 a, 187 a Sta§ 416…
[נָאָה] verb only
Pi`lel be comely, befitting (Thes Ol§ 251 a, 187 a Sta§ 416 b Ges§ 2. R. 4 SS BaePsa 33:1 > AE Ki HartmPlurilit.-bildungen (1875) 13 ff. NöZMG xxx. 1876, 185 Now HupPsa 31:1. 93, 5 Buhl
Niph`al √ I. אוה desire, i.e. desirable, beautiful; Late Hebrew נאה Pi`el Hithpa`el; נוֺאִי ᵑ7 beauty); —
Pi`lel Perfect נַאֲוָה Psa 93:5 (so van d. H Ginsb; Masora Baer Deon the passage נָָֽאֲוָה = נָאוָה see נָאוֶה
adjective, but see Sta§ 155. b. n); נָאווּ Isa 52:7; Son 1:10 (on form compare Gesl.c.); —
1 be comely; of feet of messenger, (figurative) Isa 52:7; of cheeks Son 1:10.
2 be befitting: נ קֹֿדֶשׁ׳לְבֵיתְךָ Psa 93:5.
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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