'Dear' in the Bible
And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father.
And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt;
But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be free:
If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers;
But if he says to you, I have no desire to go away from you; because you and your family are dear to him and he is happy with you;
That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living;
But to Hannah he gave one part, though Hannah was very dear to him, but the Lord had not let her have children.
And David came to Saul, waiting before him: and he became very dear to Saul, who made him his servant, giving him the care of his arms.
Now after David's talk with Saul was ended, the soul of Jonathan was joined with the soul of David, and David became as dear to him as his very life.
But David took his oath again and said, Your father sees that I am dear to you; so he says to himself, Let Jonathan have no idea of this, for it will be a grief to him; but as the Lord is living, and as your soul is living, there is only a step between me and death.
And Jonathan again took an oath to David, because of his love for him: for David was as dear to him as his very soul.
Then Saul said, I have done wrong: come back to me, David my son: I will do you no more wrong, because my life was dear to you today truly, I have been foolish and my error is very great.
And so, as your life was dear to me today, may my life be dear to the Lord, and may he make me free from all my troubles.
I am full of grief for you, my brother Jonathan: very dear have you been to me: your love for me was a wonder, greater than the love of women.
And David gave comfort to his wife Bath-sheba, and he went in to her and had connection with her: and she had a son to whom she gave the name Solomon. And he was dear to the Lord.
But when King David had news of all these things he was very angry; but he did not make trouble for Amnon his son, for he was dear to David, being his oldest son.
For your haters, it seems, are dear to you, and your friends are hated. For you have made it clear that captains and servants are nothing to you: and now I see that if Absalom was living and we had all been dead today, it would have been right in your eyes.
All this, said David, the design for all these things, has been made dear to me in writing by the hand of the Lord.
And because this house of God is dear to me, I give my private store of gold and silver to the house of my God, in addition to all I have got ready for the holy house;
Was it not in these things that Solomon, king of Israel, did wrong? among a number of nations there was no king like him, and he was dear to his God, and God made him king over all Israel: but even he was made to do evil by strange women.
All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.
Lord, your house has been dear to me, and the resting-place of your glory.
He will give us our heritage, the glory of Jacob who is dear to him. (Selah.)
O Lord, God of my salvation, I have been crying to you for help by day and by night:
Dear in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Your word is of tested value; and it is dear to your servant.
How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
How long, you simple ones, will foolish things be dear to you? and pride a delight to the haters of authority? how long will the foolish go on hating knowledge?
For to those who are dear to him the Lord says sharp words, and makes the son in whom he has delight undergo pain.
Do not say sharp words to a man of pride, or he will have hate for you; make them clear to a wise man, and you will be dear to him.
The way of the evil-doer is disgusting to the Lord, but he who goes after righteousness is dear to him.
Lips of righteousness are the delight of kings; and he who says what is upright is dear to him.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and those to whom it is dear will have its fruit for their food.
He whose heart is clean is dear to the Lord; for the grace of his lips the king will be his friend.
And by knowledge its rooms are full of all dear and pleasing things.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he the child of my delight? for whenever I say things against him, I still keep him in my memory: so my heart is troubled for him; I will certainly have mercy on him, says the Lord.
All their evil-doing is in Gilgal; there I had hate for them; because of their evil-doing I will send them out of my house; they will no longer be dear to me; all their rulers are uncontrolled.
When Israel was a child he was dear to me; and I took my son out of Egypt.
For this is what the Lord of armies has said: In the way of glory he has sent me to the nations which have taken your goods: for anyone touching you is touching what is most dear to him.
Judah has been acting falsely, and a disgusting thing has been done in Jerusalem; for Judah has made unclean the holy place of the Lord which is dear to him, and has taken as his wife the daughter of a strange god.