Hebrew word · H5000

נָאוֶה

navah

lovely

Lovely, beautiful (Song 1:5 'dark and lovely'; Song 2:14; 4:3; 6:4); seemly, fitting, suitable (Prov 17:7 'fine speech is not fitting for a fool'; 19:10; 26:1 'honor is not fitting for a fool'). Beauty and fitness are one idea here: something looks right where it belongs.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) comely, beautiful, seemly

1a) comely, beautiful

1b) seemly

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 33:1

Range of meaning

Lovely, beautiful (Song 1:5 'dark and lovely'; Song 2:14; 4:3; 6:4); seemly, fitting, suitable (Prov 17:7 'fine speech is not fitting for a fool'; 19:10; 26:1 'honor is not fitting for a fool'). Beauty and fitness are one idea here: something looks right where it belongs.

Against the English

KJV 'comely' keeps the beauty. BSB, WEB and NIV 'fitting', ESV 'befits' and NASB 'becoming' stress appropriateness. 'Fitting' can sound like a dry duty.

How it drifted

Modern 'fitting' has narrowed toward 'proper or required'. 'Comely' kept the sense of beauty but is now archaic.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 147:1 repeats the thought: 'for it is pleasant, praise is lovely (na'vah tehillah)'. Proverbs uses the word negatively of things out of place with a fool. The Septuagint uses prepei, 'it suits, it befits'; the Vulgate decet.

From the study of Proverbs 26:1

Range of meaning

"Lovely, comely, fitting, becoming." It joins beauty and appropriateness: something is lovely because it suits where it is. It is used of a beloved's beauty (Song 1:5; 2:14; 4:3; 6:4) and of what is proper ("praise is fitting for the upright," Ps 33:1; 147:1; "holiness befits your house," Ps 93:5).

Against the English

"Fitting" (WEB, NIV, ESV, NASB) and "befit" (BSB) catch the propriety but lose the beauty. The KJV's "seemly" and YLT's "comely" keep the sense of looking right, though both words are now archaic.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs uses the same formula twice more for fools: "fine speech is not fitting (na'veh) for a nabal" (17:7) and "luxury is not fitting (na'veh) for a kesil" (19:10, which continues: much less for a slave to rule over princes).

From the study of Proverbs 19:10

Range of meaning

Lovely, beautiful, and especially fitting, becoming, appropriate. It describes what suits its subject: praise suits the upright (Ps 33:1; 147:1), holiness suits God's house (Ps 93:5), and the beloved's mouth or face is lovely (Song 1:5; 2:14; 4:3).

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'seemly/comely', which is accurate but old-fashioned. BSB has 'unseemly', and NIV, ESV and NASB have 'fitting'. All are close. None of them makes this a moral prohibition.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Proverbs the word sets up a 'mismatch' saying three times: 17:7 ('fine speech is not fitting for a fool; how much less lying lips for a ruler'), 19:10, and 26:1 ('honor is not fitting for a fool'). The LXX here softens it to οὐ συμφέρει, 'it does not benefit'.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 33:1 נָאוָ֥ה [is] fitting

    Rejoice in the LORD, O righteous ones; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.

    Here: An adjective meaning both beautiful and appropriate. Praise from the upright is the right thing, and it is also a lovely thing, the way a garment suits the person wearing it.

  2. Psalm 147:1 נָאוָ֥ה [is] fitting

    Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and lovely to praise Him!

    Here: Both "beautiful" and "fitting": praise is a lovely thing and also the proper thing to give. It is feminine in form to agree with "praise".

Proverbs · 3

  1. Proverbs 17:7 נָאוָ֣ה [is] suitable

    Eloquent words are unfit for a fool; how much worse are lying lips to a ruler!

    Here: Something that suits or becomes its setting the way a fine garment suits the right person. The word does work in both halves of the verse: neither pairing is fitting.

  2. Proverbs 19:10 נָאוֶ֣ה [is] suitable

    Luxury is unseemly for a fool—how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!

    Here: Something that suits a person or looks right on them, the way clothing fits or praise suits the upright (Ps 33:1). Here it is a judgment of fit: luxury does not match a fool. The word does not mean 'sinful' or 'forbidden'.

  3. Proverbs 26:1 נָאוֶ֖ה [is] suitable

    Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool.

    Here: "Fitting" or "becoming": the word also means "lovely", the beauty of something that suits its place. Honor on a fool looks wrong in the way an ill-matched garment does, ugly because it is out of place.

Song of Songs · 4

  1. Song of Songs 1:5 וְֽנָאוָ֔ה and lovely

    I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

    Here: The prefix we- is the ordinary Hebrew 'and'. Only context can make it 'but'. Na'wah means lovely in the sense of fitting or becoming, beauty that suits. The two adjectives sit side by side: dark and lovely.

  2. Song of Songs 2:14 נָאוֶֽה׃ ס [is] lovely

    O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.

    Here: "Lovely". The word joins beauty with a sense of fittingness, as in "becoming" or "just right". It is the word she used of herself in 1:5: "dark, but lovely".

  3. Song of Songs 4:3 נָאוֶ֑ה [is] lovely

    Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

    Here: 'Lovely': beautiful, but also right and fitting. It is one of the Song's favourite words for the woman (1:5; 2:14; 6:4).

  4. Song of Songs 6:4 נָאוָ֖ה lovely

    You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.

    Here: Lovely in the sense of graceful and fitting. Elsewhere the same word says praise is 'fitting' for the upright (Ps 33:1) and honour is not 'fitting' for a fool (Prov 26:1). Her beauty is the right, well-proportioned kind, like a well-built royal city.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 6:2 הַנָּוָה֙ the beautiful [one]

    Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

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