Sense: good
adj. — having desirable or positive qualities; especially those suitable for a thing specified.
And God saw that the light was good [טוֹב]; and God separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:4 (NRSV)
Good is a very fluid English word. It can refer to something with generally pleasing qualities, like “good pizza.” It can have moral connotations, as in a “good deed.” And it can be used as a noun, such as, “It’s not a good to be bought and sold.” This holds true in the biblical languages as well. Not only is good fluid, but it’s also very common. A student writing a paper or a scholar writing a thesis on the concept of “good” in the Bible would want to examine every instance. But for those wanting a brief look at the concept of “good” for a sermon or Bible study, the Bible Sense Lexicon provides quick access to each of these different usages. For example, if we want to look at usages similar to good in Genesis 1:4, we can simply go to the Bible Sense Lexicon entry with the generic label “good.” Or if we want to look at an example of “good” with moral connotations, we can look at the entry for “good (moral concept).” In this way, we are able to find related texts without sorting through a vast number of other usages.
What is the Bible Sense Lexicon?
Sense of the Day is based on content from Logos’ Bible Sense Lexicon, which organizes biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words by meaning based on a variety of semantic relationships. Sense of the Day provides examples of senses in context, along with insight into their application for theology and interpretation.
The Bible Sense Lexicon is a Logos dataset available in Logos 5 Gold and higher base packages. If you’re enrolled in the Logos Academic Discount Program, you can also find the Bible Sense Lexicon in the Biblical Languages base package. Take your studies even further by exploring semantic domains, engaging the biblical text like never before.
Learn more about the Bible Sense Lexicon.
[…] mentioned in a previous Sense of the Day post, good can take on many different shades of meaning in a variety of languages. One helpful way to […]