עָנֹג
a.nag
to delight
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# עָנֹג (anag): Delight and Self-Indulgence in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word עָנֹג (anag) carries the primary meaning "to delight," expressing the experience of pleasure or enjoyment. With ten occurrences in the biblical text, this verb occupies a modest but meaningful place in Hebrew vocabulary for describing human experience. The word denotes an active state of taking pleasure in something rather than a passive emotional response, suggesting deliberate engagement with sources of satisfaction. The term appears significant enough to warrant its own lexical entry, indicating that biblical writers considered this particular expression of delight worthy of distinct vocabulary. While the data provided does not detail the specific contexts of all ten occurrences, the singular definition suggests the word maintains a consistent semantic range across its uses. The moderate frequency of usage—neither rare nor common—suggests it functioned as a standard, recognizable term in biblical Hebrew for describing the human experience of enjoying or taking pleasure in circumstances, though biblical writers had access to other vocabulary options when expressing this concept. Without additional context data, the full theological or practical implications of when and why biblical authors chose this specific term remain beyond what can be determined from the lexicon entry alone.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
10 total occurrences across the text
For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God.
Job 27:10Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?
Psalms 37:4Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:11But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Isaiah 55:2Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.
Isaiah 57:4Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience and offspring of falsehood,
Isaiah 58:14then you will delight yourself in Yahweh, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father;” for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.
Isaiah 66:11that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
Jeremiah 6:2I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion.
Deuteronomy 28:56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye will be evil toward the husband that she loves, toward her son, toward her daughter,