Word studies · Hebrew · Strong's H157
אָהַב · ʼâhab · appears 211 times in the Old Testament
In one line: Deep, wholehearted affection and devoted love.
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:5
Ahav describes deep affection and committed love — used for love between people, and for the covenant love God calls His people to give Him.
Ahav is the primary Hebrew verb for love, spanning romantic affection, family love, friendship, and — most significantly in passages like the Shema — wholehearted devotion to God. Its range shows the same word covers both ordinary human affection and covenant loyalty.
Ahav is an ancient root found broadly across Hebrew and related Semitic languages, used from the earliest biblical texts for affection between people. Its versatility — describing everything from a parent's love to covenant loyalty to God — reflects how central this single verb is to Hebrew relational vocabulary.
The command in the Shema to “love the LORD your God” uses ahav precisely because it's a love that engages the whole person — “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” — showing that love of God was never meant to be abstract, but wholehearted and total.
Ahav (H157) is the same root behind the name of the Israelite king Ahab, and the related noun ahăbâh is the word rendered “love” throughout the Song of Solomon.
Loving God with the whole self, commanded in the Shema, becomes the foundation Jesus later cites as the greatest commandment, tying Old and New Testament ethics together around the same core call.
Let your love for God be wholehearted rather than partial — engaging your emotions, choices, and daily habits, not just your beliefs. Consider one area of your life not yet fully surrendered in love to God.
to have affection for (sexually or otherwise)
“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
Genesis 22:2but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Exodus 20:6Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:18Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,
Deuteronomy 4:37But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Joshua 22:5So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may those who love You shine like the sun at its brightest.” And the land had rest for forty years.
Judges 5:31Press and hold love in any chapter and this study opens on the verse you are reading, with the lexicons, every occurrence and the commentaries beside it. The Bible is free to read.
Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Strong's definitions are public domain. Counts come from The Pillar's own tagged text.