נָעֵם
nâʻêm · H5276 · Hebrew · 8 occurrences
Meanings
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to be lovely, to be pleasant, to be sweet, to be dear
State in which a person or object has qualities that inspire love and appreciation
ExamplesGenesis 49:15 “When he saw that a resting place was good And that the land was pleasant, He bowed his shoulder to carry burdens, And became a slave at forced labor.
2 Samuel 1:26 “I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; You have been a close friend to me. Your love for me was more wonderful Than the love of women.
Proverbs 9:17 “Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
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to be pleasant, to be delightful
State in which conditions and circumstances have qualities that inspire appreciation
ExamplesPsalm 141:6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock, And they hear my words, for they are pleasant.
Proverbs 2:10 For wisdom will enter your heart, And knowledge will be delightful to your soul;
-
State in which humans are in a condition of well-being (to go well (with someone))
ExamplesProverbs 24:25 But for those who rebuke the wicked there will be delight, And a good blessing will come upon them.
How it’s used In 3 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
8 occurrences in 6 groups
- Not stated: you (one person) 3
- דַּעַתknowledge 1
- לֶחֶםbread, food 1
- אֶרֶץland, earth, ground 1
- Not stated: they 1
- Not stated: he, she or it 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
4 occurrences in 4 groups
- מִןfrom+ מִיwho? 1
- לto/for+ יָכַחto rebuke, to reprove 1
- לto/for+ נֶפֶשׁsoul, life 1
- לto/for+ נִיme 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- רָאָהto see 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 4 words
- חָמַד châmad · H2530 · to desire, to want to have, desirable
- Both terms describe aesthetic pleasantness and desirability — one includes "pleasant" and "delight," the other "be pleasant" and "be delight" — overlapping senses of something pleasant or desirable.
- חָפֵץ châphêts · H2654 · to like, to be pleased, to desire
- Both words express the sense of pleasing or delighting. חָפֵץ (châphêts, H2654) is rendered "delight, desire, be pleased," and נָעֵם (nâʻêm, H5276) "be pleasant, be sweet, be a delight."
- נָאָה nâʼâh · H4998 · to be beautiful, to be appropriate, to be welcome
- Both words describe pleasant or aesthetic qualities ("beautiful, comely" and "pleasant, sweet"). They are distinct Hebrew roots describing overlapping qualities of beauty and pleasantness.
- טוֹב ṭôwb · H2895 · to be good
- Both words express positive evaluation. נָעֵם (nâʻêm, H5276) focuses on pleasantness and sweetness, while טוֹב (ṭôwb, H2895) focuses on goodness and well-being.
Semantic domains 4 entries
- Good002001001031
- The word describes being pleasant, delightful, or beautiful, tying it to a favorable, agreeable quality.
- Love002001002018
- The word is used of persons dearly loved whose pleasantness in life is remembered, a broader affectionate sense than a bare aesthetic judgment.
- Well002001003018
- The word describes a wholesome, favorable state of being pleasant or sweet, a broader well-being sense than plain visual or aesthetic delight.
- Safe002003003019
- The word can describe pleasantness tied to a secure, untroubled condition, a broader protective sense than aesthetic delight alone.
Word family 5 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H5276. naem I. [נָעֵם] verb be pleasant, delightful, lovely (Phoenician נעם good Lzb324…
I. [נָעֵם] verb be pleasant, delightful, lovely (Phoenician נעם good Lzb324 (and many proper names); Arabic be plentiful, easy, pleasant; shew gracious favour toward, often in Qoran; Sabean נעם be lovely, agreeable, well Levy-OsZMG xix (1865), 178 CISiv. 19, 11; so Minaean HomSüdar. Chrest. 128; Old Aramaic in proper name Lzb222, 324 Cook82 (נעמתי my darling [or my songs, compare II. ׳נ]); נָעִים ᵑ7 pleasant, lovely, נְעִימְתָּא loveliness; PräBas i. 46 f. compare Ethiopic be pleasant, = ); —
Qal Perfect3feminine singular נָעֵ֑מָה Gen 49:15 (poem in J; of land); 2 masculine singular (of delightful friend) מְאֹד לִי נָעַמְתָּ 2Sa 1:26, also (of physical beauty) נָעָ֑מְתָּ מִמִּי Eze 32:19; Eze 32:2feminine singular (id.) מַהנָּֿעַמְתְּ Cant 7:7 how lovely art thou ! (|| מַהיָּֿפִית); 3 plural, of pleasant words, נָעֵ֑מוּ Psa 141:6; Imperfect3masculine singular יִנ ׳לְנַפְשְׁךָ ׃יִנְעָ֑ם Pro 2:10 (of knowledge); יִנ סְתָרִים ׳לֶחֶם Pro 9:17 (|| יִמְתָּ֑קוּ); ׳יִנ Pro 24:25 is impersonal with ל, to them...shall be delight.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 3 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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