chemda · desirable, best

What it means

chemda (חֶמְדָּה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “desirable, best”.

What is most precious, the best; delight.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Something of great value.
2. What one longs for or loves.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• precious ×5
• desirable ×4
• delight ×2
• pleasant ×2
• best ×1
• desire ×1
• desiring him ×1
• one desired ×1
• treasures ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Chronicles×3
• Ezra×1
• Psalms×1
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×3
• Ezekiel×1
• Daniel×2
• Hosea×1
• Nahum×1
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 27:15

  Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

• 1 Samuel 9:20

  As for the donkeys that were lost to you three days ago do not set your heart on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not for you and for all the house of your father?”

• 2 Chronicles 21:20

  He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He departed with no one desiring him; and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

• 2 Chronicles 32:27

  Hezekiah had very great riches and glory; and he made treasuries for himself for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of desirable objects;

• 2 Chronicles 36:10

  At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon, with the precious utensils of the house of YHWH, and made king over Judah and Jerusalem Zedekiah his brother.

• Ezra 8:27

  and twenty bowls of gold worth a thousand darics, and two utensils of good shining bronze, desirable as gold.

• Psalms 106:24

  And they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his word.

• Isaiah 2:16

  and against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the desirable images.

• Jeremiah 3:19

  And I said, ‘How I will set you among the children and give you a desirable land, an inheritance of beauty, the most beautiful of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You will call me My father, and you will not turn away from following me.’

• Jeremiah 12:10

  Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled my portion; they have made the portion of my delight a wilderness of desolation.

• Jeremiah 25:34

  Wail, you shepherds, and cry out, and roll in the dust, you nobles of the flock, for your days for slaughter are fulfilled, and for your scatterings, and you will fall like a precious vessel.

• Ezekiel 26:12

  And they will despoil your wealth and plunder your merchandise, and tear down your walls, and your houses of delight they will demolish; and your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters they will put.

• Daniel 11:8

  And also their gods, with their molten images, with their precious vessels of silver and gold, he will carry into captivity to Egypt; and he will refrain for some years from the king of the north.

• Daniel 11:37

  And to the gods of his fathers he will not pay heed, nor to the one desired by women, nor to any god will he pay heed, for above all he will magnify himself.

• Hosea 13:15

  Though he is fruitful among brothers, an east wind will come, the wind of YHWH rising from the wilderness; and his spring will dry up, and his fountain will be parched; it will plunder the treasure of every precious object.

• Nahum 2:9

  Plunder the silver, plunder the gold; there is no end to the supply, wealth of every precious object.

• Haggai 2:7

  And I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says YHWH Tsevaot.

• Zechariah 7:14

  And I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known; and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one passing through or returning; and they made the pleasant land a horror.