LOVELY

luv'-li ('ahabh, 'ahebh; prosphiles): "Lovely" occurs only 4 times. In 2 Sam 1:23 it is the translation of 'ahebh, "to be loved" ("Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant (the King James Version margin "sweet") in their lives"), where it seems to mean "loving" or "lovable." Two other words are so translated in the Old Testament: machmadch, "desire" a "desirable thing" (Song of Solomon 5:16, "He is altogether lovely," that is, "lovable," "to be desired," literally, "all of him lovableness," or "desirableness"); `aghabhim "loves," or "charms" (Ezekiel 33:32, "Thou art unto them as a very lovely song," the King James Version margin "a song of loves," the Revised Version margin "a love-song"; in Ezekiel 33:31 the same word is translated "much love," the King James Version margin "They make loves or jests"); in Philippians 4:8 we have prosphiles, "very lovely," or "lovable," "whatsoever things are lovely."

W. L. Walker

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.