Desire
תַּאֲוָהStrong’s H8378taavah (ta-a-vah)
Appears in 20 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Taavah is the Hebrew word usually translated “desire of”, “craving” and “desire”. It appears in 20 verses of the Old Testament.
“And 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.”
Meaning
- Desiredesire, wish, longings of one's heart · thing desired, object of desire
How it's translated
- desire of 8
- a craving 3
- desire 2
- a desire 2
- a delight 1
- desire my 1
- and desire their 1
- from desire their 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 8
- Proverbs 8
- Genesis 1
- Numbers 1
- Job 1
- Isaiah 1
6 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Numbers 11:4And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
- Job 33:20So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
- Psalms 10:3For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
- Psalms 10:17LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
- Psalms 21:2Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
- Psalms 38:9Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
Hebrew dictionary
תַּאֲוָה taavah · desire
1) desire 1a) desire, wish, longings of one's heart 1a1) lust, appetite, covetousness (bad sense) 1b) thing desired, object of desire
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.