Definition

properly, to hide (as in the bosom), i.e. to cherish (with affection)

Etymology

a primitive root (compare H2244 (חָבָא), H2247 (חָבָה));

Where the KJV renders it

• love

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.