Hebrew word · H3302

יָפָה

yeyapehu

be beautiful

To be beautiful or handsome, mainly of visible appearance (people, a land, a tree, a city). The related noun yofi is 'beauty.' The doubled form here, found nowhere else, makes it stronger: 'you are exceedingly beautiful.'

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be bright, be beautiful, be handsome, be fair

1a) (Qal) to be beautiful

1b) (Piel) to beautify

1c) (Pual) to be beautiful

1d) (Hithpael) to beautify oneself

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 Psalm 45:2

Range of meaning

To be beautiful or handsome, mainly of visible appearance (people, a land, a tree, a city). The related noun yofi is 'beauty.' The doubled form here, found nowhere else, makes it stronger: 'you are exceedingly beautiful.'

Against the English

KJV 'fairer' is accurate older English. 'Fair' then meant beautiful. ESV/BSB 'most handsome' is clear and accurate. WEB and NIV 'most excellent' turns physical beauty into general excellence, losing the bodily picture the Hebrew insists on.

How it drifted

English 'fair' has since moved toward 'just, even-handed' or 'light-skinned,' so KJV readers can mishear it. 'Excellent' in some modern versions seems to come from discomfort at praising a king's looks, especially when the psalm is read as about Christ.

Used elsewhere in the period

Israel's kings are regularly noted for their looks: Saul (1 Sam 9:2), David 'handsome' (yefeh, 1 Sam 16:12; 17:42), Absalom (2 Sam 14:25), and the promised king 'in his beauty' (Isa 33:17). Proverbs 31:30 pairs the same two ideas as this verse: 'charm (ḥen) is deceptive and beauty (yofi) is fleeting.' The Septuagint renders the doubled form with a doubled Greek phrase, hōraios kallei, 'lovely in beauty.' Grammar handbooks (Gesenius–Kautzsch–Cowley §55e) list it as a rare reduplicated form.

From the study of Song of Songs 7:6

Range of meaning

To be beautiful or handsome, mostly of visible beauty: of women (Sarah, Rachel, Abigail, Esther), of men (Joseph, David, Absalom), of cities, trees and animals. The related adjective yāfeh is the Song's signature word of praise (1:15; 4:1, 7; 6:4).

Against the English

BSB and KJV use "fair," WEB "beautiful." In older English "fair" meant beautiful. Today a reader may hear "just," "so-so" or "pale-skinned," and none of those is in the Hebrew.

How it drifted

"Fair" in the sense of "beautiful" survived in English mainly in poetry and Bible phrasing ("fair maiden"). In everyday speech its main senses moved to "just" and "moderate".

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb form is rare and poetic (e.g. Ezek 16:13; 31:7; Song 4:10, "how beautiful is your love"). The adjective is common throughout Genesis–Samuel for attractive people. In the Song the lovers trade the word back and forth (1:15–16).

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 45:2 יָפְיָפִ֡יתָ you are handsome

    You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

    Here: The verb 'to be beautiful' with its first syllables doubled: 'you are beautiful-beautiful,' i.e. utterly, strikingly handsome. It is physical good looks, the bodily presence of the king. The poem opens its praise of the king here.

Song of Songs · 3

  1. Song of Songs 4:10 יָּפ֥וּ they are beautiful

    How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.

    Here: 'They are beautiful.' The Song keeps calling the woman yafah, 'beautiful' (4:1, 4:7). Here the beauty is said of her love itself, so what she does is as lovely as how she looks. The Hebrew past-tense form describes a lasting state, so it means 'are beautiful', not 'have been' (as YLT has it).

  2. Song of Songs 7:1 יָּפ֧וּ they are beautiful

    How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O daughter of the prince! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the handiwork of a master.

    Here: 'They are beautiful.' The verb form treats beauty as a settled fact, not a passing impression. It is the Song's key word for beauty, used again and again of both lovers.

  3. Song of Songs 7:6 יָּפִית֙ you are beautiful

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

    Here: "You are beautiful," said to a woman. The past-tense (perfect) form of a state verb describes a lasting condition: she simply is beautiful. This is the Song's main word for physical beauty, the visible loveliness the man has just catalogued from her feet to her hair (7:1–5).

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 4:30 תִּתְיַפִּ֑י you beautify yourself

    And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

    Here: A reflexive form ('beautify yourself'), found only here in the Bible, which pictures self-made beauty put on in order to win favour.

  2. Jeremiah 10:4 יְיַפֵּ֑הוּ he beautifies it

    They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 16:13 וַתִּ֙יפִי֙ and you were beautiful

    So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen.

    Here: "And you grew beautiful." Her beauty is the result of all this care. In v. 15 she 'trusted in her beauty', so the gift is the very thing she abuses.

  2. Ezekiel 31:7 וַיְּיִ֣ף and it was beautiful

    It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its limbs, for its roots extended to abundant waters.

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