H8231 H8231
be beautiful, fair, pleasing, or comely
This Hebrew verb expresses aesthetic and emotional satisfaction, describing something that is visually beautiful or personally pleasing. The single occurrence in Psalm 16:6 uses an Aramaism to describe the psalmist's inheritance as 'beautiful' or 'pleasing' to him. The root connects to the broader Semitic family where similar forms convey brightness, beauty, or the removal of a veil to reveal attractiveness. It captures both objective beauty and subjective pleasure in what one possesses or experiences.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The multilingual glosses consistently render this as 'beautiful,' 'fair,' or 'pleasing' (Spanish hermosa, French beau, German schön), confirming the aesthetic-evaluative sense. In Psalm 16:6, the psalmist declares that his 'heritage is beautiful to me,' expressing deep satisfaction with God's apportionment of his life—a fitting conclusion to the declaration that 'the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.' 1×
AR["جَمِيلٌ"]·ben["শোভনীয়"]·DE["ist-schön"]·EN["is-beautiful"]·FR["être-beau"]·heb["שפרה"]·HI["मनोरम-है"]·ID["indah"]·IT["[שפרה]"]·jav["endah"]·KO["아름답도다"]·PT["me-é-formosa"]·RU["прекрасно"]·ES["es-hermosa"]·SW["ni-mzuri"]·TR["güzeldir"]·urd["خوبصورت-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
† [שָׁפַר] vb. be beautiful, fair, comely (Arabic سَفَرَ remove veil (of women), shine; Aramaic שְׁפַר be pleasing (v. Dn 6:2), ܫܦܰܪ be beautiful, bright, pleasing, ܫܰܦܺܝܪ beautiful);— Qal Pf. 3 fs. שָֽׁפְרָה עָלָ֑י (Aramaic) ψ 16:6 (the) heritage is beautiful for (pleasing to) me (v. עַל II. 8).