To desire
חָמַדStrong’s H2530chamad (cha-mad)
Appears in 24 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Chamad is the Hebrew word usually translated “must covet”, “desirable” and “covet”. It appears in 24 verses of the Old Testament.
“But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.”
Meaning
- To desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in(Qal) to desire · (Niphal) to be desirable · (Piel) to delight greatly, desire greatly
- Desirableness, preciousness
How it's translated
- you must covet 3
- desirable 2
- and desirable 1
- he will covet 1
- you will covet 1
- and i desired them 1
- precious things 1
- precious 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Proverbs 4
- Psalms 3
- Isaiah 3
- Genesis 2
- Exodus 2
- Deuteronomy 2
13 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Daniel 11:43In contextBut he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
- Genesis 2:9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
- Genesis 3:6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- Exodus 20:17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
- Exodus 34:24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
- Deuteronomy 5:21Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Hebrew dictionary
חָמַד chamad · to desire
v 1) to desire, covet, take pleasure in, delight in 1a) (Qal) to desire 1b) (Niphal) to be desirable 1c) (Piel) to delight greatly, desire greatly
חֲמוּדָה chamudah · precious thing
desirableness, preciousness
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “desire” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
DESIRE, noun
- An emotion or excitement of the mind, directed to the attainment or possession of an object from which pleasure, sensual, intellectual or spiritual, is expected; a passion excited by the love of an object, or uneasiness at the want of it, and directed to its attainment or possession. desire is a wish to possess some gratification or source of happiness which is supposed to be obtainable.“We endeavored-to see your face with great desire” 1 Thessalonians 2:17“Thou satisfiest the desires of every living thing” Psalms 145:16
- A prayer or request to obtain:“He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him” Psalms 145:19
- The object of desire; that which is desired.“The desire of all nations shall come” Haggai 2:7
- Love; affection.“His desire is toward me” Song of Solomon 7:10
All definitions and other forms of “desire”
- Appetite; lust.“Fulfilling the desires of the flesh” Ephesians 2:3
DESIRE, verb transitive
- To wish for the possession or enjoyment of, with a greater or less degree of earnestness; to covet.“Neither shall any man desire thy land” Exodus 34:24“Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts” 1 Corinthians 14:1
- To express a wish to obtain; to ask; to request; to petition.“Then she said, did I desire a son of my Lord?” 2 Kings 4:28
- To require.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.