'Favor' in the Bible

But Noah found favor and grace in the eyes of the Lord.

and Abraham said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass by your servant [without stopping to visit].

Please listen, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness (mercy) to me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, because the disaster will overtake me and I will be killed.

Live temporarily [as a resident] in this land and I will be with you and will bless and favor you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will establish and carry out the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

The Lord appeared to him the same night and said,“I am the God of Abraham your father;Do not be afraid, for I am with you.I will bless and favor you, and multiply your descendants,For the sake of My servant Abraham.”

But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”

Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.

Esau asked, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” And he answered, “[These are] to find favor in the sight of my lord.”

Jacob replied, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift [as a blessing] from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But Jacob said, “What need is there [for it]? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

Shechem also said to Dinah’s father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give you whatever you ask of me.

So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight and he served him as his personal servant. He made Joseph overseer over his house, and he put all that he owned in Joseph’s charge.

But the Lord was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden.

and may God Almighty grant you compassion and favor before the man, so that he will release to you your other brother [Simeon] and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children [Joseph, Simeon, and Benjamin], I am bereaved.”

And they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

And when the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh and [promise to] deal loyally and faithfully with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

And I will grant this people favor and respect in the sight of the Egyptians; therefore, it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.

The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, [both] in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them what they asked. And so they plundered the Egyptians [of those things].

Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’

Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways so that I may know You [becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, recognizing and understanding Your ways more clearly] and that I may find grace and favor in Your sight. And consider also, that this nation is Your people.”

For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we are distinguished, Your people and I, from all the [other] people on the face of the earth?”

The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have asked; for you have found favor (lovingkindness, mercy) in My sight and I have known you [personally] by name.”

And he said, “If now I have found favor and lovingkindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, please, go in our midst, though it is a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your possession.”

For I will turn toward you [with favor and regard] and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish and confirm My covenant with you.

then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring as an offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it [the symbols of favor and joy], because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a memorial grain offering, a reminder of [the consequences of] wickedness.

The Lord make His face shine upon you [with favor],And be gracious to you [surrounding you with lovingkindness];

So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have placed the burden of all these people on me?

So if this is the way You are going to deal with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”

They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan [River].”

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she loses his favor because he has found something indecent or unacceptable about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house,

a defiant nation who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young,

With the precious things of the earth and its fullness,And the favor and goodwill of Him who dwelt in the bush.Let these blessings come upon the head of Joseph,And upon the crown of the head of him who was distinguished [as a prince] among his brothers.

Of Naphtali he said,“O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,And full of the blessing of the Lord,Take possession of the sea [of Galilee] and the south.”

For it was [the purpose] of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle so that Israel would utterly destroy them, that they would receive no mercy, but that Israel would destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Gideon replied to Him, “If I have found any favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speaks with me.

Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will favor me and make me prosper because I have a Levite as my priest.”

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one [of the reapers] in whose sight I may find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

Then she kneeled face downward, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should notice me, when I am a foreigner?”

Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not as one of your maidservants.”

But the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men.

But David vowed again, saying “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be worried.’ But truly as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step between me and death.”

He said, ‘Please let me go because our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away so that I may see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight [and be well-treated], for we have come on a good (festive) day. Please, give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your sight, let me be given a place [of my own] in one of the cities in the country, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

Joab bowed his face toward the ground and lay himself down and blessed the king. Then Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has done the request of his servant.”

Then the king told Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to [its rightful place in] the city [of Jerusalem, the capital]. If I find favor in the Lord’s sight, He will bring me back again and let me see both it and His dwelling place (habitation).

Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, everything that belonged to Mephibosheth is [now] yours.” Ziba said, “I bow down [in honor and gratitude]; let me find favor in your sight, O my lord the king.”

Hadad found great favor with Pharaoh, so that he gave Hadad in marriage the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

The king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat [the favor of] the Lord your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison;

I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your presence, [I ask] that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, so that I may rebuild it.”

Now the young woman pleased Hegai and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with beauty preparations and her [portion of] food, and he gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace; then he transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.

Now as for Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her in as his [own] daughter, when her turn came to go in to the king, she requested nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch [and attendant] who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the sight of all who saw her.

Now the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the [other] virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in the place of Vashti.

When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she found favor in his sight; and the king extended to her the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to do as I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them; and tomorrow I will do as the king says [and express my request].”

Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be spared as my petition, and my people [be spared] as my request;

Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter is proper in the king’s view and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote [in order] to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

‘Does it indeed seem right to You to oppress,To despise and reject the work of Your hands,And to look with favor on the schemes of the wicked?

‘You have granted me life and lovingkindness;And Your providence (divine care, supervision) has preserved my spirit.

“You would lie down with no one to frighten you,And many would entreat and seek your favor.

“Will you show partiality for Him [and be unjust to me so that you may gain favor with Him]?Will you contend and plead for God?

“You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you;And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways.

“When He keeps quiet, who then can condemn?When He hides His face [withdrawing His favor and help], who then can behold Him [and make supplication to Him],Whether it be a nation or a man by himself?—

For You, O Lord, bless the righteous man [the one who is in right standing with You];You surround him with favor as with a shield.

For His anger is but for a moment,His favor is for a lifetime.Weeping may endure for a night,But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

By Your favor and grace, O Lord, you have made my mountain stand strong;You hid Your face, and I was horrified.

Blessed be the Lord,For He has shown His marvelous favor and lovingkindness to me [when I was assailed] in a besieged city.

Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication and want what is right for me;Let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”

By this I know that You favor and delight in me,Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;The rich among the people will seek your favor.

Restore us, O God of hosts;And cause Your face to shine on us [with favor and approval], and we will be saved.

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;Cause Your face to shine on us [in favor and approval], and we shall be saved.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;The Lord bestows grace and favor and honor;No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Show me a sign of [Your] goodwill,That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed,Because You, O Lord, helped and comforted me.

Blessed and happy are the people who know the joyful sound [of the trumpet’s blast]!They walk, O Lord, in the light and favor of Your countenance!

For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment],And by Your favor our horn is exalted.

And let the [gracious] favor of the Lord our God be on us;Confirm for us the work of our hands—Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

Light is sown [like seed] for the righteous and illuminates their path,And [irrepressible] joy [is spread] for the upright in heart [who delight in His favor and protection].

My eyes will be on the faithful (honorable) of the land, that they may dwell with me;He who walks blamelessly is the one who will minister to and serve me.

Remember me, O Lord, when You favor Your people.Visit me with Your salvation [when You rescue them],

I sought Your favor with all my heart;Be merciful and gracious to me according to Your promise.

Turn to me and be gracious to me and show me favor,As is Your way to those who love Your name.

For the Lord will judge His peopleAnd He will have compassion on His servants [revealing His mercy].

You open Your handAnd satisfy the desire of every living thing.

So find favor and high esteemIn the sight of God and man.

Though He scoffs at the scoffers and scorns the scorners,Yet He gives His grace [His undeserved favor] to the humble [those who give up self-importance].

“For whoever finds me (Wisdom) finds lifeAnd obtains favor and grace from the Lord.

By the blessing [of the influence] of the upright the city is exalted,But by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

He who diligently seeks good seeks favor and grace,But he who seeks evil, evil will come to him.

A good man will obtain favor from the Lord,But He will condemn a man who devises evil.

Good understanding wins favor [from others],But the way of the unfaithful is hard [like barren, dry soil].

Fools mock sin [but sin mocks the fools],But among the upright there is good will and the favor and blessing of God.

The king’s favor and good will are toward a servant who acts wisely and discreetly,But his anger and wrath are toward him who acts shamefully.

In the light of the king’s face is life,And his favor is like a cloud bringing the spring rain.

He who finds a [true and faithful] wife finds a good thingAnd obtains favor and approval from the Lord.

Many will seek the favor of a generous and noble man,And everyone is a friend to him who gives gifts.

The king’s wrath terrifies like the roaring of a lion,But his favor is as [refreshing and nourishing as] dew on the grass.

The soul of the wicked desires evil [like an addictive substance];His neighbor finds no compassion in his eyes.