Willing, generous or noble describes a person, disposition or standing according to its passage. Exodus invites willing-hearted people to contribute for the stated tabernacle work and records men and women bringing gifts.
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Full entry for נָדִיב (H5081) · Open the biblical lexicon
Willing, generous or noble describes a person, disposition or standing according to its passage. Exodus invites willing-hearted people to contribute for the stated tabernacle work and records men and women bringing gifts.
The BSB source-word alignment has 29 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include nobles (4), of the prince (3), the nobles (3), in princes (2), a noble (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 35:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (8), Isaiah (5), Proverbs (5), Job (3).
Willing, generous or noble describes a person, disposition or standing according to its passage. Exodus invites willing-hearted people to contribute for the stated tabernacle work and records men and women bringing gifts. Isaiah contrasts the fool wrongly called noble with the generous person whose plans are generous. Psalm 51 asks to be sustained with a willing spirit within a prayer for cleansing and restoration.
Psalm 146 warns against trusting princes who cannot save. These witnesses cannot be collapsed into a single judgment about money, rank or spiritual achievement. Willing contribution must remain willing, and noble status does not guarantee trustworthy action. A congregation can encourage generosity and accountable service without shaming people who cannot give, purchasing favor through donations or claiming that a willing disposition guarantees wealth or relief from every trouble.
Voluntary contribution, disputed public titles, generous conduct, a prayer for willing spirit and unreliable princes distinguish disposition from rank. The surrounding action or request supplies each assessment.
Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze;
The invitation addresses those whose hearts are willing to bring the stated offering for the tabernacle work.
So all who had willing hearts, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings, rings and necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry. And they all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord.
Men and women who are willing bring their ornaments within the narrated contributions, rather than a coerced transaction.
No longer will a fool be called noble, nor a scoundrel be respected.
The announced contrast refuses to call a fool noble or give the scoundrel an honored description.
But a noble man makes honorable plans; he stands up for worthy causes.
The generous person devises generous plans and stands by those purposes within the chapter's contrast.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.
The petitioner asks for restored joy and sustaining with a willing spirit rather than claiming self-secured renewal.
Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
The psalm warns against placing saving trust in princes or human beings who cannot provide salvation.
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. Voluntary generosity rooted in willing inclination; denotes both noble benefactor and potentially oppressive wielder of power.
Voluntary generosity rooted in willing inclination; denotes both noble benefactor and potentially oppressive wielder of power.
properly, voluntary, i.e. generous; hence, magnanimous; as noun, a grandee (sometimes a tyrant) BDB: inclined Usage: free, liberal (things), noble, prince, willing (hearted).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 29 lexical occurrence verses.
נָדִיב is built from this root:
Contrasts genuine integrity with deceptive folly.Isaiah 32:1-8
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Willingness and rank differ in these passages even where the vocabulary overlaps. Exodus records contributions for named work from people whose hearts are willing; the gift cannot be taught as faithful if it is extracted through coercion. Isaiah exposes a false title for the fool and then describes generous people through their generous purposes. Psalm 51 turns to petition, asking for restored joy and a willing spirit rather than declaring renewal achieved by payment or effort.
Psalm 146 warns that princes are mortal and cannot bear saving trust. These contexts permit an invitation to free generosity and responsible service while demanding examination of conduct beneath prestige. A congregation should make room for different means and abilities, protect people from pressure to surrender necessities, and avoid presenting donations as a transaction that purchases healing, status or a guaranteed financial return.
Exod.35.5
The licensed range concerns willingness, generosity and noble standing according to construction and context. Twenty-nine directly tagged BSB tokens in twenty-six verses remain separate from the canonical twenty-nine; adjective vocabulary cannot make titled rank and generous conduct equivalent.
Second Corinthians 8:1-15 and 9:1-15 address willingness, giving according to means, equality and cheerful participation rather than compulsion. Paul's sowing image and thanksgiving remain in that appeal; this canonical comparison cannot promise a fixed cash return or require a person to neglect necessities to prove faith.