H4998 H4998
To be beautiful, comely, or befitting; to be appropriate or suitable
This rare verb appears in contexts of beauty and appropriateness. The Song uses it to praise the beloved's beauty: 'your cheeks are lovely.' Isaiah employs it for the beautiful feet of the messenger bringing good news. And Psalm 93 declares that 'holiness befits your house, O LORD.' The root connects aesthetic beauty with moral fittingness—what is lovely to the eye and what is suitable or proper to its context. The term bridges external appearance and internal appropriateness.
Senses
1. sense 1 — To be beautiful, comely, or befitting. Song of Songs 1:10 praises: 'Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.' Isaiah 52:7 celebrates: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news'—messengers of peace are lovely. Psalm 93:5 declares: 'Holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore'—holiness is suitable and appropriate to God's dwelling. The Spanish 'hermosas' and French 'convenir' show the dual sense of beauty and fittingness. 3×
AR["أَجْمَلَ", "نَاوُو", "يَلِيقُ-"]·ben["যোগ্য", "সুন্দর"]·DE["[נאוו]", "ist-fitting"]·EN["beautiful", "is-fitting"]·FR["Elles-sont-belles,", "[נאוו]", "convenir"]·heb["נאוו", "נאווה"]·HI["शोभा-देती-है-", "सुंदर-हैं", "सुन्दर"]·ID["Cantik", "indahnya", "patut"]·IT["[נאוו]", "beautiful", "bello"]·jav["Ayu", "pantes", "éndahipun"]·KO["아름다운가", "아름답네", "합당하도다"]·PT["Formosas", "convém", "formosos"]·RU["Прекрасны", "подобает-", "прекрасны"]·ES["Hermosas", "es-propia", "hermosos!"]·SW["inafaa", "ni-nzuri", "zilivyopendeza"]·TR["guzel", "yakışır"]·urd["خوبصورت-ہیں", "زیبا-ہے"]
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
† [נָאָה] vb. only Piʿlel be comely, befitting (Thes Ol§ 251 a, 187 a Sta§ 416 b Ges§ 73. 2. R.4 SS Bae ψ 33:1 > AE Ki HartmPlurilit.-bildungen (1875) 13 ff. NöZMG xxx, 1876, 185 Now Hup ψ 31:1, 93:5 Buhl Niph. √ I. אוה desire, i.e. desirable, beautiful; NH נאה Pi. Hithp.; 𝔗 נוֹאִי beauty);—Piʿlel Pf. נַאֲוָה ψ 93:5 (so van d. H Ginsb; Mass Baer Dead loc. נָֽאֲוָה = נָאוָה v. נָאוֶה adj., but v…