נָוָה
to dwell
‘to dwell’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Hiphil verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”).
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
Person
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
Gender
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 time (50%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (50%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 2 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H5115 appears — 2 distinct verses across 2 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Exodus 1 verse
Habakkuk 1 verse
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, נוה (nâvâh) means “to dwell.” It occurs a mere 2 verses across Scripture. The word gravitates to Exodus (50%), then Habakkuk. Scripture first uses it in Exodus 15:2. Read the stem: it spans 2 stems, including Hiphil and Qal. Dig into 2-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5115 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 2
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 2 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #4,807
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 4,807 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 2 occurrences in the concordance →
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 2 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 1 verse · 50%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 1 verse · 50%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 3 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: I will prepare him an habitation 1×, Keepeth at home 1×
- American Standard Version†: Keepeth not at home 1×
- Berean Standard Bible†: I will praise him 1×, Rest 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: He will 1×, I will glorify him 1×, Rest 1×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5115 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5115 across 1† tagged occurrence — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H5115 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5115 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 4 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
נוה I only
Hiphil
- (si vera l.) lit. beautify (then connected with נאה be comely, so Buhl SS; cf. NH נוה Niph. shew oneself beautiful, Nithp. adorn oneself, נָוֶה adj. beautiful, LevyNHWB);—Impf. 1 s. sf. אַנְוֵהוּ Ex 15:2 I will beautify, adorn him (with praises; obj. י׳; ‖ רומם; 𝔊 δοξάσω, 𝔙 glorificabo).—Adj. נָוָה Je 6:2, v. נָאוֶה sub [נָאָה]. e.g. Exodus 15:2
נוה II denom. dwell, abide (si vera l.)
Qal
- Impf. 3 ms. לֹא יִנְוֶה Hb 2:5 he shall not abide, so Ke; Hi rest (cf. Da); We proposes יִרְוֶה be satiated, cf. 𝔖 Krochm יָנוּחַ. e.g. Habakkuk 2:5
נוה III pasture, meadow
- 1. pasture, meadow: נ׳ הָרֹעִים Am 1:2, cf. Zp 2:6 (‖ גִּדְרוֹת צֹאן; v. also [כָּרָה] p. 500 supr.); especially נְאוֹת (הַ)מִּדְבָּר Je 9:9; 23:10 ψ 65:13, Jo 1:19, 20; 2:22; נ׳ דֶּשֶׁא ψ 23:2 grassy pastures; נ׳ אֱלֹהִים ψ 83:13 pastures of God, i.e. the land of Canaan, נ׳ יַעֲקֹב La 2:2; נ׳ הַשָּׁלוֹם Je 25:37 meadows of peace; e.g. Amos 1:2
- 2. נ׳ חָמָס ψ 74:20 appar. habitations (?) of violence, but read prob. גַּאֲוָה וְח׳, so Bi Che (v. 73:6).—Je 6:2 v. sub [נָאָה]; Jb 8:6 v. i. נָוֶה. e.g. Psalms 74:20
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
II. vb.denom. dwell, abide (si vera l.);—only
III. n.f. pasture, meadow;—pl. cstr. נְוֹת Zp 2:6, usually נְאוֹת ψ 23:2 + 11 times;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
נָוָה
- to be pleasing, v. נוי.
נָוֶה I
- , (= נָאֶה) becoming, handsome. Arakh. III, 1 הנ׳ שבישראל Ar. (ed. הנָּאֶה) the handsomest in Israel, v. כָּאוּר. Naz. I, 1 אהא נ׳ Mish. (Bab. ed. נאה; Y. ed. נָאוֶה) I will be handsome (like the Nazarite).
נָוֶה II
- ,, v. אָוָה II) marked-off place, circle, dwelling. Y. Ber. IX, 13ᶜ bot. (ref. to Jer. XXV, 30) בשביל נָוֵיהוּ on account of his (destroyed) dwelling (the Temple); Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII. Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 3 (ref. to ואנוהו, Ex. XV, 2) ואין נ׳ אלא וכ׳ (not נאה) naveh means the Temple (ref. to Ps. LXXIX, 7, a. e.). Sot. 9ᵃ (ref. to Ps. XXXIII, 1) אל תקרי נאוה אלא נְוֵה תהלה read not nâvah (becoming) but n’veh of glory, i.e. a dwelling of glory is that of the righteous (which no human hand is permitted to destroy). Ib. 47ᵇ (ref. to Hab. II, 5) לא יִנְוֶה אפי׳ בנ׳ שלו he will not be pleasing (popular) even in his own household; B. Bath. 98ᵃ; Yalk. Hab. 562. Keth. XIII, 9 מוציאין מנ׳ הרעה נ׳ היפה וכ׳ a husband may compel his wife to move with him from a worse to a better house (and style of living). Ib. הנ׳ היפה בודק, v. בָּדַק. Ib. 110ᵇ לאיתויי … לנ׳ הרע including even a change from a better to a worse household; Arakh. 3ᵇ.—Trnsf. climate; health. Gen. R. s. 64 [read:] מפני מה לא גזרו על הנ׳ … שנָוָהּ רע why did they not forbid (as unclean) the air of Gerariké? Because its climate is bad; Y. Shebi. VI, 36ᶜ bot. מפני מה לא גזרו על הרוח … שנִיוְיָהּ וכ׳. Ib. והרי עזה ניויה יפה but there is Gaza whose climate is healthy. Y. B. Bath. II, 13ᶜ top נִיאוֹ רע (prob. to be read: נִיוְיוֹ) a tree makes the neighborhood unhealthy; v. נוֹי 2. e.g. Jeremiah 25:30
נָוֶה
- , נָוֶוה III pr. n. pl. Naveh, east of Gadara in Galilee (v. Neub. Géogr. p. 245). Lev. R. s. 23, a. e., v. חַלָּמִישׁ.—Ruth R. to II, 19 ר׳ שילא דנווה; Lev. R. s. 34 דנַוְהָא.—Y. Shebi. VI, 36ᶜ bot. חוטא דנ׳ the line passing N. [prob. Neveh in Peraea].
נוי
- (b. h.) to be becoming, pleasing. Sot. 47ᵇ, a. e. יִנְוֶה, v. נָוֶה II.
- 1. to beautify, adorn. Y. Peah I, 15ᵇ (ref. to Ex. XV, 2) וכי … לַנְווֹת את בוראו is it possible for man to beautify his Maker?; Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 3 להַנְווֹת קונו; (Yalk. Ex. 244 להשוות לקונו, v. infra).—2) to equal, adapt one’s self to. Sabb. 133ᵇ (expl. ואנוהו, Ex. l. c.) הוי דומה לו be like Him; Mekh. l. c. נדמה לו let us be like Him. Yalk. l. c. וכי … להשוות לקוני is it possible for man to equal his Creator? e.g. Exodus 15:2
- to adorn one’s self. Mekh. l. c. אֶנָּוֶוה לפניו, v. נָאָה.
- to make one’s self handsome, to be vain. Sot. I, 8 אבשלום נ׳ בשערו Y. ed. (Mish. a. Bab. ed. 9ᵇ נתגאה) Absalom was vain of his hair.
- to beautify. Mekh. l. c. (ref. to ואניהו, v. supra) נַיֶּינּוּ ושַׁבְּחוּ להב"ה וכ׳ beautify Him, and praise the Lord before all nations (Yalk. l. c. אגיד נאותיו ושְׁבָחוֹ וכ׳, v. נָאֶה).
נוי ²
- Hithpa. הִתְנַוֶּה to fall away, v. נִוְנֶה.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 2 distinct written forms H5115 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| וְ/אַנְוֵ֔/הוּ | Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Exodus 15:2 | 1 |
| יִנְוֶ֑ה | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Habakkuk 2:5 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5115, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 2 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 2 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
