Strong’s H2530 · Hebrew

חָמַד
châmad
khaw-mad'

Definition

to delight in

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

  • beauty
  • greatly beloved
  • covet
  • delectable thing
  • ( great) delight
  • desire
  • goodly
  • lust
  • (be) pleasant (thing)
  • precious (thing)

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.