Definition

to have affection for (sexually or otherwise)

Etymology

or אָהֵב ; a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• (be-) love(-d
• -ly
• -r)
• like
• friend

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.