Hebrew word · H160

אַהֲבָה

'ahavah

love

Love in many settings: between spouses, parent and child, and friends. Loyal attachment. In treaty and covenant language it also means political loyalty (compare Deuteronomy 6:5 and ancient Near Eastern treaties where vassals 'love' their overlord).

Appears 38 times in 35 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) love

1a) human love for human object

1a1) of man toward man

1a2) of man toward himself

1a3) between man and woman

1a4) sexual desire

2) God's love to His people

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 17:9

Range of meaning

Love in many settings: between spouses, parent and child, and friends. Loyal attachment. In treaty and covenant language it also means political loyalty (compare Deuteronomy 6:5 and ancient Near Eastern treaties where vassals 'love' their overlord).

Against the English

'Love' is accurate. Here the parallel with 'intimate friend' shows the kind of love meant: friendship and social bonding, not romance.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 10:12 (love covers offenses). Proverbs 15:17 ('better a dish of vegetables where love is'). Proverbs 27:5 ('open rebuke is better than hidden love'). 1 Samuel 18:1–3 (Jonathan's love for David, sealed with a covenant).

From the study of Song of Songs 8:6

Range of meaning

Love in a wide range of senses: between husband and wife (Gen 29:20), between friends (David and Jonathan, 2 Sam 1:26), and God's love for Israel (Deut 7:8; Hos 11:4). It can be desire and attachment as well as loyal commitment. The context decides which.

Against the English

English 'love' is close. The risk is the other direction: readers who have learned that 'real love' is a spiritualised, selfless love may tone this down. In the Song it is fully the passionate, bodily love between a woman and a man.

How it drifted

Later theology contrasted 'agape' (selfless love) with 'eros' (desire). Hebrew ʾahăbâ draws no such line.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used throughout the Song, especially in the refrain 'do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases' (2:7; 3:5; 8:4) and in 'love-sick' (2:5; 5:8). The Greek Septuagint translates it agapē here, which shows that word was then ordinary Greek for love, not yet a technical term.

From the study of Proverbs 10:12

Range of meaning

Love in a wide sense: affection, attachment and loyal commitment. It covers love between family members, spouses, friends (David and Jonathan) and political allies, and God's love for Israel. It combines feeling and faithful conduct.

Against the English

All versions say 'love', which is right. Modern English 'love' can lean toward feeling alone; the Hebrew includes the loyalty that shows itself in how you treat someone who has wronged you.

Used elsewhere in the period

Love and hatred are paired elsewhere in wisdom literature: 'Better a dish of vegetables where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it' (Prov 15:17); Amnon's hatred became greater than his love (2 Sam 13:15). 'Better open rebuke than hidden love' (Prov 27:5) shows that love in Proverbs is not silence about everything. The LXX translates with philia, 'friendship'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 29:20 בְּאַהֲבָת֖וֹ in love his

    So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

    Here: 'Because of his loving'. The prefix be- here gives the reason. The form takes a direct object ('her'), so it works as a verb, 'his loving her', and not just as an abstract noun. It names real emotional and physical attachment to one particular woman, chosen over her sister.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 7:8 מֵֽאַהֲבַ֨ת from [the] love of

    But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

    Here: 'From the loving of': the little prefix 'from' gives the cause. It mirrors verse 7's 'not from your being many', so the verse sets 'from your size' against 'from Yahweh's love'. Followed by an object marker, so it works like a verb: 'because Yahweh loves you'.

1 Samuel · 3

  1. 1 Samuel 18:3 בְּאַהֲבָת֥וֹ in love his

    Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

    Here: "In his loving," meaning "because he loved." The form works like a verb, which is why it takes the object marker that follows. It gives the reason for the covenant. The word includes both warm attachment and committed loyalty.

  2. 1 Samuel 20:17 בְּאַהֲבָת֖וֹ אַהֲבַ֥ת in love his, [the] love of

    And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

2 Samuel · 3

  1. 2 Samuel 1:26 אַהֲבָֽתְךָ֙ מֵאַהֲבַ֖ת love your, more than [the] love of

    I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother. You were delightful to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.

    Here: 'Your love.' This is Jonathan's love for David. In the stories in 1 Samuel it is always Jonathan who is said to love David. The word covers affection, loyalty and committed allegiance.

  2. 2 Samuel 13:15 מֵאַהֲבָ֖ה more than [the] love

    Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 11:2 לְאַהֲבָֽה׃ to love [them]

    These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

    Here: "For love" or "in love." Real attachment, including desire and affection, and in this narrative also the loyalty that "love" means in covenant language. It answers v. 1, "Solomon loved many foreign women," and contrasts with 3:3, "Solomon loved Yahweh."

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 2:11 בְּאַהֲבַ֤ת because loves

    Then Hiram king of Tyre wrote a letter in reply to Solomon: “Because the LORD loves His people, He has set you over them as king.”

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 109:4 אַהֲבָתִ֥י love my

    In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

    Here: 'My love', meaning the love the psalmist showed them, not love shown to him. Verse 5 sets it beside 'good', so it is loyal goodwill shown in what he did for them, the love of a friend or ally, not a private feeling.

  2. Psalm 109:5 אַהֲבָתִֽי׃ love my

    They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

Proverbs · 5

  1. Proverbs 5:19 בְּ֝אַהֲבָתָ֗הּ by love her

    A loving doe, a graceful fawn—may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

    Here: 'In her love'. This could mean the love she gives him or his love for her, and the Hebrew allows both. The preposition can mark what he is 'drunk' with, or the place where his reeling happens.

  2. Proverbs 10:12 אַהֲבָֽה׃ love

    Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.

    Here: Love as loyal goodwill and attachment toward another person. It is held back to the very last word, so the verse opens with hatred and closes with love.

  3. Proverbs 15:17 וְאַהֲבָה־ and love

    Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.

    Here: Love as warm affection and goodwill between the people sharing the meal. It is set in direct opposition to 'hatred' in the second half.

  4. Proverbs 17:9 אַהֲבָ֑ה love

    Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.

    Here: The bond of attachment and loyalty between people, here practically 'friendship.' It is the opposite of the broken friendship in the second line.

  5. Proverbs 27:5 מֵֽאַהֲבָ֥ה more than love

    Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.

    Here: The prefix me- ("from, more than") makes the comparison. Ahavah is love as loyal attachment between friends, family or partners. Here it points ahead to v. 6, where the loving one ('ohev, "friend") is the one who wounds.

Ecclesiastes · 2

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:1 אַהֲבָ֣ה love

    So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

    Here: 'Love.' Placed first for emphasis. Whose love is open to debate: God's favour, other people's goodwill, or a person's own future feelings.

  2. Ecclesiastes 9:6 אַהֲבָתָ֧ם love their

    Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Song of Songs · 11

  1. Song of Songs 2:4 אַהֲבָֽה׃ [is] love

    He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.

    Here: "Love". It is the last word of the sentence, and there is no verb: "his standard over me, love." Here it is romantic and physical love, the same love she is "sick with" in the next verse and that must not be "stirred up" too early in 2:7.

  2. Song of Songs 2:5 אַהֲבָ֖ה love

    Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

  3. Song of Songs 2:7 הָאַהֲבָ֖ה <the> love

    O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

  4. Song of Songs 3:5 הָאַהֲבָ֖ה <the> love

    O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

  5. Song of Songs 3:10 אַהֲבָ֔ה leather

    He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

  6. Song of Songs 5:8 אַהֲבָ֖ה love

    O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

    Here: 'Love.' In the Song this means passionate love between a man and a woman, the force that is 'strong as death' (8:6). Here it is what has made her ill.

  7. Song of Songs 7:6 אַהֲבָ֖ה O love

    How fair and pleasant you are, O love, with your delights!

  8. Song of Songs 8:4 הָאַהֲבָ֖ה <the> love

    O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

  9. Song of Songs 8:6 אַהֲבָ֔ה love

    Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

    Here: 'Love' here is the passionate love between the woman and the man, the same 'love' the Song warns not to awaken before its time (8:4). It comes last in its clause, so the hearer meets its strength before its name.

  10. Song of Songs 8:7 הָֽאַהֲבָ֔ה בָּאַהֲבָ֔ה <the> love, for <the> love

    Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 63:9 בְּאַהֲבָת֥וֹ in love his

    In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

    Here: "In his love": the motive. It is both warm attachment and the committed loyalty of the covenant (God's binding relationship with Israel), as in Deut 7:8, "because the LORD loved you … he redeemed you."

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 2:2 אַהֲבַ֖ת [the] love of

    “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

    Here: 'The love of'. Affection and also chosen loyalty, the kind of love a bride gives to the one she has joined herself to.

  2. Jeremiah 2:33 אַהֲבָ֑ה love

    How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.

  3. Jeremiah 31:3 וְאַהֲבַ֤ת and a love of

    The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

    Here: "And a love of..." The noun is set before its own verb ("with a love... I loved"), a Hebrew way of adding emphasis: real love, truly given. The opening "and" is the vav that KJV and WEB render "Yea".

Hosea · 3

  1. Hosea 3:1 כְּאַהֲבַ֤ת as loves

    Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.”

    Here: “Just as the love of”. The noun form of the love root, with “like” attached. It names the pattern: Hosea's love is to copy Yahweh's love.

  2. Hosea 9:15 אַהֲבָתָ֔ם to love them

    All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from My house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

    Here: 'To love them'. In Hosea, love means YHWH's bond with Israel as husband and as father (3:1; 11:1, 4): loyalty, care and favour, with real feeling in it. Ending that love means ending the relationship that kept them in his house.

  3. Hosea 11:4 אַהֲבָ֔ה love

    I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.

    Here: It looks back to verse 1, 'when Israel was a child, I loved him'. The ropes God used were made of love itself: real attachment shown in faithful action.

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 3:17 בְּאַ֣הֲבָת֔וֹ in love his

    The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”

    Here: 'In his love'. This is love as committed attachment and loyalty, the word used for God's love that chooses Israel (Deut 7:8; Jer 31:3). With a feminine Zion as the one loved, it also carries hints of marriage.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.