Aramaic word · H8232

שְׁפַר

shefar

to acceptable

Literally 'it was beautiful/pleasing before me': the formula of royal decision, 'I have seen fit, I have decided'. The verb šᵉp̄ar means to be fair or pleasing (compare Hebrew šāp̄ar, Ps 16:6, 'the lines have fallen in pleasant places').

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be fair, be seemly, seem good, seem pleasing

1a) (P'al) to seem good, be acceptable

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 Daniel 4:2

Range of meaning

Literally 'it was beautiful/pleasing before me': the formula of royal decision, 'I have seen fit, I have decided'. The verb šᵉp̄ar means to be fair or pleasing (compare Hebrew šāp̄ar, Ps 16:6, 'the lines have fallen in pleasant places').

Against the English

KJV 'I thought it good' and WEB 'it has seemed good to me' keep the formal, decree-like tone. BSB 'I am pleased' and NIV 'It is my pleasure' make it sound like personal delight. That is not wrong, but it loses the sense of an official decision by the king.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 6:2 (English 6:1): 'it pleased (šᵉp̄ar qŏdām) Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps.' Similar formulas of decision appear in Aramaic administrative documents of the Persian period and in Ezra's Aramaic decrees ('a decree was issued by me').

Where it appears

Daniel · 3

  1. Daniel 4:2 שְׁפַ֥ר it seemed good

    I am pleased to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.

    Here: 'It is pleasing / it seemed good.' Language of royal decision, the formula by which a king announces what he has chosen to do (compare Darius in 6:1).

  2. Daniel 4:27 יִשְׁפַּ֣ר let it be acceptable

    Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”

    Here: 'Let it be pleasing.' This is the polite language of court etiquette, the same verb Nebuchadnezzar uses in 4:2 ('it has seemed good to me') and Darius in 6:1. Daniel phrases a hard demand as a courteous request.

  3. Daniel 6:1 שְׁפַר֙ it seemed good

    Now it pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,

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