Hebrew word · H4998
נָאָה
navu
be lovely
To be lovely, comely, and also fitting or seemly. Used of a beloved's cheeks (Song 1:10) and of what suits God's house ('holiness befits your house', Psalm 93:5, same root).
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to be comely, be beautiful, be befitting
1a) (Pilpel)
1a1) to be comely
1a2) to be befitting
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
- Range of meaning
To be lovely, comely, and also fitting or seemly. Used of a beloved's cheeks (Song 1:10) and of what suits God's house ('holiness befits your house', Psalm 93:5, same root).
- Against the English
'Beautiful' (most versions) and 'comely' (YLT) are fine. The 'fitting, welcome' side of the word is easy to miss.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Song of Songs 1:10; Psalm 93:5; Proverbs 17:7 and 26:1 (the related adjective: something is or is not 'fitting').
- Range of meaning
The verb nāʾâ / the adjective nāʾweh means 'lovely, comely,' and from that 'fitting, seemly, appropriate.' Compare Prov 17:7 ('fine speech is not fitting for a fool'), Ps 33:1 ('praise is fitting for the upright'), Song 1:10; 6:4 ('lovely'). The unusual vowels of this form are usually explained as a rare intensive stem of nāʾâ (GKC §75x).
- Against the English
KJV 'becometh,' ESV/NASB 'befits' (the 'fitting' sense). BSB, NIV and WEB have 'adorns' (the 'lovely' sense, turned into a picture of decoration). YLT 'comely' keeps both. The Hebrew holds both at once: holiness is what suits the house, and so it is the house's beauty.
- How it drifted
In KJV English 'becometh' means 'befits, suits' (as in 'that dress becomes you'). Many modern readers hear 'turns into.'
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Septuagint has πρέπει ('it is fitting'), the Vulgate decet ('befits'). Both take the 'fitting' sense.
From the study of Song of Songs 1:10
- Range of meaning
Be lovely, beautiful, and also 'be fitting, suitable, becoming'. The adjective form nāʾweh means 'lovely, comely' and also 'proper, fitting'.
- Against the English
English versions choose either 'beautiful' (BSB, NIV, WEB) or 'lovely' (ESV, NASB). KJV's 'comely' actually catches both senses best: in older English it meant 'attractive' and 'becoming'. Modern English has no single word that covers both 'beautiful' and 'appropriate'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Fitting: Ps 33:1 ('praise is fitting for the upright'); Prov 17:7, 19:10 and 26:1 (fine speech, luxury and honour are 'not fitting' for a fool). Lovely: Song 1:5 ('black and lovely'), 2:14, 4:3, 6:4. The exact form nāʾwû appears again only in Isa 52:7 ('How beautiful upon the mountains…'). Old grammars treat the form as unusual (GKC §75x).
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 93:5 נַאֲוָה־ it is befitting
Your testimonies are fully confirmed; holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, for all the days to come.
Here: Holiness is what is proper to the house, and so what makes it beautiful. The word carries both 'fitting' and 'lovely'; the translations divide between 'befits' and 'adorns.'
Song of Songs · 1
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Song of Songs 1:10 נָאו֤וּ they are beautiful
Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.
Here: The verse opens with this verb, so the stress falls on how lovely she is. The word means both 'beautiful' and 'becoming, suited to': the ornaments suit her face. It is the same rare verb form found in Isaiah 52:7, 'How beautiful on the mountains are the feet…'
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 52:7 נָּאו֨וּ they are beautiful
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Here: 'They are lovely.' The word joins beauty and fittingness: the sight is welcome and exactly right. The feet are lovely because of what they bring, not because of how they look.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.