Tov (טוֹב, Strong's H2896) is a Hebrew word. Strong's defines it as good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun, both in the masculine and the feminine, the singular and the plural (good, a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women), also as an adverb (well). The King James Bible translates it as beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, × fair (word), (be in) favour, fine, glad, good (deed, -lier, -liest, -ly, -ness, -s), graciously, joyful, kindly, kindness, liketh (best), loving, merry, × most, pleasant, pleaseth, pleasure, precious, prosperity, ready, sweet, wealth, welfare, (be) well(-favoured).

What is the Strong's number for Tov?

The Strong's number for Tov (טוֹב) is H2896. It is a Hebrew word from Strong's public-domain dictionary keyed to the King James Bible.

Bible word study

Tov (Strong’s H2896): Meaning in the Bible

Tov (טוֹב) is the Hebrew word numbered H2896 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun, both in the masculine and the feminine, the singular and the plural (good, a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women), also as an adverb (well). In the King James Bible it is translated beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful.

טוֹב

ṭôwb · Hebrew

Strong’s H2896 · tobe

Original wordטוֹב
Transliterationṭôwb
Pronunciationtobe
Part of speech(a n-m n-f)
Strong’s numberH2896
LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun, both in the masculine and the feminine, the singular and the plural (good, a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women), also as an adverb (well)

Derivation. from H2895;

How the King James Bible translates it

beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, at ease, × fair (word), (be in) favour, fine, glad, good (deed, -lier, -liest, -ly, -ness, -s), graciously, joyful, kindly, kindness, liketh (best), loving, merry, × most, pleasant, pleaseth, pleasure, precious, prosperity, ready, sweet, wealth, welfare, (be) well(-favoured). (The × marks places where the word shapes the phrasing rather than being rendered by a single English word.)

Where Tov appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Tov (H2896) stands behind 558 English renderings in 516 verses across 35 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Psalms (69), Proverbs (62), Ecclesiastes (52).

How the King James Bible renders Tov, by count

good361 of 558 (65 percent)
better72 of 558 (13 percent)
well20 of 558 (4 percent)
goodness16 of 558 (3 percent)
goodly9 of 558 (2 percent)
best8 of 558 (1 percent)

Three places to read Tov

Genesis 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1 Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
Proverbs 14:19 The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Tov in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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