H4986 H4986
sweetness, pleasantness; agreeable quality of speech or relationship
This noun appears in Proverbs wisdom literature describing what makes speech and friendship delightful. One passage praises 'sweetness of lips' as a quality that increases learning and persuasiveness. Another celebrates the sweetness of a friend's counsel—the pleasant quality of wise advice from someone you trust. The term evokes honey and pleasant tastes, transferred metaphorically to words and relationships that bring joy rather than bitterness.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Occurs in Proverbs 16:21 (sweetness of speech) and 27:9 (sweetness of a friend's counsel). The multilingual glosses uniformly render this as 'sweetness' or 'pleasantness' (English 'sweetness', Spanish 'dulzura'), emphasizing the agreeable, delightful quality that characterizes both persuasive speech and valued friendship in wisdom tradition. 2×
AR["وَ-حَلاوَةُ"]·ben["এবং-মধুরতা", "এবং-মাধুর্য"]·DE["[ומתק]"]·EN["and-sweetness-of"]·FR["et-ומתק"]·heb["ו-מתק"]·HI["और-मिठास"]·ID["dan-manisnya"]·IT["e-e-sweetness-di"]·jav["lan-manis-saking", "lan-manising"]·KO["그리고-달콤함은", "그리고-달콤함이"]·PT["e-doçura-de"]·RU["и-сладость"]·ES["y-dulzura-de"]·SW["na-utamu-wa"]·TR["ve-tatlılık", "ve-tatlılığı"]·urd["اور-مٹھاس", "اور-میٹھاس"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† מֶ֫תֶק n.m. Pr 16:21 sweetness; cstr. מ׳ שְׂפָתַיִם Pr 16:21 i.e. agreeable, attractive speech, so prob. מ׳ רֵעִֽהוּ 27:9 the sweetness of one’s friend, i.e. of his speech.