ʾĀwâ names desiring or longing, with permitted appetite, prayerful seeking, divine choice and condemned craving among the selected witnesses. Deuteronomy 12:20 permits eating meat when it is desired within the stated food rules.
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Full entry for אָוָה (H183) · Open the biblical lexicon
ʾĀwâ names desiring or longing, with permitted appetite, prayerful seeking, divine choice and condemned craving among the selected witnesses. Deuteronomy 12:20 permits eating meat when it is desired within the stated food rules.
The BSB source-word alignment has 25 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include desires (4), crave (2), craves (2), desire (1), desired (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Numbers 11:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (4), Psalms (4), Deuteronomy (3), Numbers (3).
ʾĀwâ names desiring or longing, with permitted appetite, prayerful seeking, divine choice and condemned craving among the selected witnesses. Deuteronomy 12:20 permits eating meat when it is desired within the stated food rules. Isaiah 26:9 describes the speaker longing for God at night, while Psalm 132:13 identifies the Lord's desire for Zion as His dwelling. These contexts prevent defining all longing as sinful lust.
Numbers 11:4 describes a strong craving that accompanies dissatisfaction with manna and nostalgic complaint about Egypt. The negative evaluation belongs to that narrated response rather than appetite in isolation. Amos 5:18 also warns people who long for the Lord's day while misunderstanding what it will bring them. Teaching should therefore ask what is sought, how the desire responds to God's provision or judgment and who is acting. The verb does not make intense wanting proof that the desired outcome is either holy or guaranteed.
Permitted meat, the rebellious craving narrative, longing for God and God's chosen dwelling show differing subjects and objects. The selected passages judge the direction and response of desire, preserving ordinary appetite and prayerful seeking alongside specific warnings.
When the Lord your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want.
Desire for meat is permitted within the expanded-land setting and accompanying food restrictions. The direct use does not define appetite itself as rebellion.
Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
Craving accompanies complaints about the received manna and memories of Egypt's food. The surrounding narrative gives the desire its discontented direction rather than condemning every wish for food.
My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
The speaker's nighttime longing is directed to God and followed by seeking and attention to His judgments. This is prayerful orientation, not an automatic sinful-craving gloss.
For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:
The Lord is the subject of choosing and desiring Zion for His dwelling. Human temptation language must not be imposed on that stated divine purpose.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Intense, often illicit desire that bends the will toward forbidden objects; covetousness
Intense, often illicit desire that bends the will toward forbidden objects; covetousness
to wish for BDB: incline Usage: covet, (greatly) desire, be desirous, long, lust (after).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 28 lexical occurrence verses.
אָוָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Deuteronomy permits a desire for meat while retaining instructions about blood and responsible eating. Numbers recounts craving within a different situation, where the people complain about manna and idealize what they remember of Egypt. Treating these accounts as an identical moral verdict would ignore both permission and narrated discontent. The object, setting and response explain why the uses differ.
Isaiah directs longing toward God, and Psalm 132 gives the Lord the subject position in choosing a dwelling. Amos warns that longing for a religiously named day can still misunderstand its judgment. James 1:13-18 offers a Christian discussion of evil desire and good gifts, but it does not authorize calling every appetite evil. Teaching should help readers test desire's direction and response without guessing hidden motives or promising that any strong wish will become its own divine assurance.
Isa.26.9
Desire or longing does not contain a fixed moral judgment independent of subject and object. Permitted food, a dissatisfied crowd, the praying speaker and the Lord's chosen dwelling illustrate different constructions that should not be translated as identical sinful lust.
James 1:13-18 explains temptation through evil desire while denying that God tempts and affirming His good gifts. It supplies a Christian account of one morally evaluated desire sequence. The comparison does not redefine every ʾāwâ occurrence as evil, especially the permitted appetite and divine dwelling contexts.