desire, and the precious or delightful thing that desire fixes on
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
This is one word for both the wanting and the wanted. It comes from the verb "to desire" (חמד), and it can name the longing itself or, just as easily, the treasured object that longing prizes. English needs several different words to follow it.
Its range runs along a single thread:
the longing itself, as in "all that Israel desires"
the treasured objects that longing values, the "precious vessels" carried off in war
the quality of loveliness, as in the "pleasant land" that Israel spurned
a person held dear, as when the angel calls Daniel "greatly beloved"
The unifying idea is desirableness. Whether the word points at an abstract craving, a room full of gold and silver, a beautiful country, or a beloved man, it is always naming something the heart is drawn toward. A close kinsman word, חמד, leans toward the quality of loveliness, while this word keeps one foot in the longing and one in the thing longed for.
Nuances
1athe longing itself, or the person or thing that is longed for
1Sa 9:202Ch 21:20Dan 11:37*Hag 2:7*
Hag 2:7
Whether ḥemdat kol-haggôyim in Haggai 2:7 means a singular "desired one" of all nations (read messianically since the Vulgate's "desideratus") or, collectively, "the treasures and wealth of all nations" that will be brought into the temple. The verb that governs the phrase is plural (ûvāʾû, "they shall come"), which favors reading the singular construct noun as a collective for desirable goods.
majorityThe treasured wealth of the nations will be brought in; the plural verb favors a collective sense of desirable goods.; HALOT, s.v. חֶמְדָּה; Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi (NICOT, 1987)
minorityThe one desired by all nations, taken as a singular messianic title.; Vulgate (Jerome), Haggai 2:7 ("veniet desideratus cunctis gentibus")
Dan 11:37
Whether ḥemdat nāšîm in Daniel 11:37 names a deity "beloved of women" (frequently identified with the dying-and-rising god Tammuz/Adonis, whose cult drew women's devotion), fitting the surrounding list of gods, or the ruler's own "desire for women" (natural affection or marriage that he disregards).
majorityA deity beloved of women, in step with the neighboring references to gods.; John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia, 1993)
minorityThe ruler's regard for women, that is, natural affection or marriage.; Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel (Anchor Bible 23, 1978)
1bprecious things: treasured objects, valuables, and choice possessions
TranslatabilityApproximate
Gen 27:152Ch 32:272Ch 36:10Isa 2:16Jer 25:34Dan 10:3Dan 11:8Hos 13:15Nam 2:9(10)
1cpleasant or lovely: an attractive quality, especially of a land or place one longs for
TranslatabilityApproximate
Psa 106:24Jer 3:19Jer 12:10Ezk 26:12Zec 7:14
1dgreatly beloved: a person held precious and dear
in "the pleasant land" it names the country as the very thing everyone longs forPsa 106:24
Both
both describe something delightful and attractiveJer 3:19
Only pleasant
English "pleasant" sounds mild and merely agreeable, missing the strength of longing
“beloved”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“goodly”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How ḥemdah differs from similar Hebrew words
חמדthe verb behind this noun: the act of desiring or coveting, where this word is the desire itself or the treasured thing it fixes on
חמדa very close kinsman noun that leans toward the quality of loveliness or beauty, while this word keeps both the longing and the treasured object in view
Names desire itself, the inward longing or the object longed for: "the desire of Israel," "the desire of all nations," "the desire of women."1Sa 9:20Hag 2:7Dan 11:37
Names concrete treasures, the precious vessels and finest garments that people prize as wealth.Gen 27:152Ch 32:27Dan 11:8
Becomes a title of affection for a person held dear, as when Daniel is addressed as one greatly treasured.Dan 9:23Dan 10:11Dan 10:19
Both
Both grow from the same root and mark places and possessions as delightful and worth prizing: pleasant vineyards and fields for the one, the pleasant land and pleasant houses for the other.Isa 27:2Psa 106:24Ezk 26:12
Works only as a bound quality attached to something else, marking it as lovely or desirable; it never stands on its own to name the thing desired or the longing itself.Isa 27:2Isa 32:12Amo 5:11
Names the physical attractiveness of people, the handsome young soldiers whose good looks provoke lust.Ezk 23:6Ezk 23:12Ezk 23:23
מחמדnames the cherished object itself, the darling or delight of the eyes, overlapping this word's "precious things" sense
Can name the desire or the longing itself, not only the thing desired: what all the nations yearn for, or where the hope of a whole people rests.Hag 2:71Sa 9:20
Forms fixed terms of honor: the promised land called "the desirable land," and a person held especially dear called one "greatly treasured."Jer 3:19Dan 9:23
Both
Both name precious valuables prized enough to be looted or burned, such as the goodly vessels and treasures of the temple.2Ch 36:102Ch 36:19
Both label pleasant places and dwellings that are laid waste in judgment.Ezk 26:12Isa 64:11
Anchors the phrase "the desire of the eyes": the single person or possession most cherished, named at the very moment it is seized or struck down.Ezk 24:16Lam 2:41Ki 20:6
תאוהa broader, appetite-driven longing that can slide into sinful craving, while this word centers on the desirableness of what is wanted
Names the quality that makes an object precious or coveted, attaching to costly, pleasant, and valuable things rather than to the person who longs for them.Gen 27:152Ch 32:27Jer 3:19
Marks a person or place as treasured, held dear, and highly valued by another.Dan 9:23Dan 10:11
Both
Both are regularly rendered "desire" and can name what the heart longs for or delights in, whether a prized object or a hoped-for aim.Hag 2:7Pro 13:12
Names intrinsic worth: a thing is costly, rare, and high in market or craftsman's value, whether or not anyone happens to crave it.1Ki 5:171Ki 7:9Job 28:16
Attaches most naturally to precious stones and costly building materials, the tangible expensive items themselves.2Sa 12:30Ezk 28:13Pro 3:15
Extends to rarity and honor: a thing scarce and weighty, from a rare word to a valued life.1Sa 3:1Psa 116:15Pro 17:27
Names the longing itself, not only the thing longed for. It can stand alone as what a whole people or nation has its heart set on, a use the word for what is picked out never has.1Sa 9:20Hag 2:7Dan 11:37
Can rate a PERSON by how dearly he is held, so that a man is addressed as one who is treasured, or is said to have died with nobody sorry to see him go.Dan 10:11Dan 9:232Ch 21:20
Supplies the standing phrase for the promised land as the land Israel yearned for, a country valued for the desire it stirs rather than for being the pick of a set.Psa 106:24Jer 3:19Zec 7:14
Both
Both attach to an ordinary noun to lift it to top grade, and English Bibles reach for the same words for either one: precious, goodly, choice, finest.2Ch 32:27Dan 11:8Isa 37:24Ezk 24:4
Both mark exactly what invaders go after, so each becomes a way of measuring a judgment: the finest houses pulled down, the treasured vessels carried off, the finest cedars thrown on the fire, the finest valleys filled with enemy chariots.Ezk 26:12Dan 11:8Jer 22:7Isa 22:7
Always presupposes a stated group and names the top of it: the pick of the fir trees, the pick of the trees of Lebanon, the pick of the flock, the pick of the burial places. The quality is comparative, measured against the rest of its own kind.Isa 37:24Ezk 31:16Ezk 24:5Gen 23:6
Regularly describes picked fighting men: a king's best officers, the finest young troops of a nation, the elite of an army. Israel's word for what is desired is never used of soldiers.Exo 15:4Jer 48:15Ezk 23:7Dan 11:15
Marks what worshippers deliberately select as fit to bring to God, the best of what they have promised him.Deu 12:11
Frames value as being wanted, longed for, or treasured. It is the word for a person or thing that people covet or hold most dear, so Daniel is greeted as the man who is greatly treasured and the coming Messiah is the one every nation longs for.Hag 2:7Dan 9:23Dan 10:11
Labels concrete valuables that people hoard or seize: silver and gold, fine vessels and furniture, prized craftwork, and choice clothing. The value lies in the wealth being coveted, not in any outward radiance.2Ch 32:27Dan 11:8Nam 2:9Gen 27:15
Both
Both crown the Promised Land as the choicest of all lands. One calls it the desirable, longed-for land; the other calls it the glory and jewel of every country. Jeremiah 3:19 pairs them in a single breath, naming it both the pleasant land and the goodly heritage.Jer 3:19Psa 106:24Ezk 20:6Dan 8:9
Names visible, ornamental splendor: a crown or diadem of glory, the fallen beauty of a nation, the pride of a great kingdom. The value is radiant prominence that impresses the eye, not a private longing to possess it.Isa 28:1Isa 28:52Sa 1:19Isa 13:19
Also carries a wholly separate meaning that this pair-word never has: the gazelle, a swift and graceful wild animal counted among clean game and used as a picture of speed and escape. The other word never names a living creature.Deu 12:152Sa 2:18Pro 6:5Sng 2:9
Only this word names solid property. It labels the fine clothes in a household chest, the silver and gold vessels in a royal storehouse, even the choice food a mourner gives up. The other word is never attached to goods.Gen 27:152Ch 32:27Dan 11:8Dan 10:3
It belongs to scenes of plunder. What is valuable is exactly what an invading army hauls away or smashes, so the word keeps turning up in war reports and threats of ruin.2Ch 36:10Ezk 26:12Hos 13:15Nam 2:9
It names a country as the coveted prize. The land of Israel is repeatedly called the land worth wanting, whether God is offering it or the prophets are describing it in ruins.Psa 106:24Jer 3:19Jer 12:10Zec 7:14
It can name the wanting itself, the pull toward something not yet in hand. All Israel's longing settles on Saul, and the nations' longing is still on its way. It can even be negated to say nobody wanted a king around at all.1Sa 9:20Hag 2:72Ch 21:20
Both
Both can be laid on a person, naming someone as the one another party holds dear. The angel calls Daniel a man of preciousness, usually rendered "greatly beloved", and God calls Ephraim a child of delight, usually rendered "a darling child".Dan 10:11Dan 9:23Jer 31:20
Both turn up where something cherished has gone wrong, and in those passages the word measures the size of the loss: the prized land left desolate, the planting God doted on yielding bloodshed instead of fruit.Zec 7:14Psa 106:24Isa 5:7
Only this word names pleasure taken in words. Five times the writer of Psalm 119 says God's instruction is what he enjoys, the thing his mind keeps returning to.Psa 119:24Psa 119:77Psa 119:174
It describes a pleasure repeated over time rather than a want satisfied once. Wisdom is God's enjoyment day after day, and the psalmist's enjoyment of the law is a settled habit, not a single moment of getting what he wished for.Pro 8:30Psa 119:92
It carries someone through suffering. The writer says he would have died in his affliction without it, and he names it again with trouble and anguish gripping him. That steadying use has no counterpart in the other word.Psa 119:92Psa 119:143Psa 119:77
It can run both directions at once between two parties. In a single scene Wisdom is what God enjoys and humankind is what Wisdom enjoys, a mutual fondness the other word never expresses.Pro 8:30Pro 8:31
ḥemdah in the other biblical languages
ἐπιθυμίαGreek“desire”the main Greek word for desire, often tilting toward craving or lust, where this Hebrew word skews toward the precious or pleasant object desired
Names the desirable thing rather than the feeling: precious treasures, costly vessels, and valued possessions that people prize.2Ch 32:272Ch 36:10Nam 2:9
Describes a land as prized and cherished, the pleasant land longed for as a home.Psa 106:24Jer 3:19Zec 7:14
Can settle on a person as the object of affection, marking someone as greatly treasured or beloved.Dan 9:23Dan 10:11Dan 10:19
Both
Both words can carry a strong, wholesome longing or the thing longed for, so neither is confined to illicit craving.Php 1:23Hag 2:7
Names the inner craving itself, and in the New Testament that craving is almost always a sinful one: the appetite of the flesh that pulls a person toward wrongdoing.Gal 5:161Pe 2:11Rom 6:12
Pictures desire as the seed of sin, the pull that conceives wrongdoing and grows into it.Jas 1:14Jas 1:15Rom 7:7
Even when the longing is good, it stays the wish or yearning felt by a person, not the thing that is wished for.Luk 22:15Php 1:231Th 2:17
What scholars say about ḥemdah
חמדה is a feminine noun from the root ḥmd, "to desire, take pleasure in." The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) and TDOT treat it as a single polysemous noun ranging from the abstract "desire" to the concrete "that which is desired," hence "precious things" (frequently in the phrase kelî ḥemdâ, "precious vessels") and the attributive "lovely, pleasant" (ʾereṣ ḥemdâ, "the pleasant land"). The Daniel address ʾîš ḥămudôt is rendered "man greatly esteemed or beloved." Two loci are disputed: Haggai 2:7, where the plural verb favors a collective "treasures of the nations" over the older singular messianic "desired one"; and Daniel 11:37, ḥemdat nāšîm, variously "a deity beloved of women" (often linked to Tammuz) or "desire for women."
Sources
BDB, s.v. חֶמְדָּהlexicon
HALOT, s.v. חֶמְדָּהlexicon
G. Wallis, "חָמַד ḥāmadh," in TDOT, vol. 4theological-dictionary
Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi (NICOT, 1987)commentary
John J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia, 1993)commentary