'Dear' in the Bible

So Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my dear! Do not leave to gather grain in another field. You need not go beyond the limits of this field. You may go along beside my female workers.

He said, "May you be rewarded by the Lord, my dear! This act of devotion is greater than what you did before. For you have not sought to marry one of the young men, whether rich or poor.

Now, my dear, don't worry! I intend to do for you everything you propose, for everyone in the village knows that you are a worthy woman.

I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan! You were very dear to me. Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

"At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be told, 'A scorching wind will sweep down from the hilltops in the desert on my dear people. It will not be a gentle breeze for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff.

So I said, "Oh, my dear people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now that destructive army will come against us."

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people have suffered. They say, "Everything will be all right!" But everything is not all right!

I hear my dear people crying out throughout the length and breadth of the land. They are crying, 'Is the Lord no longer in Zion? Is her divine King no longer there?'" The Lord answers, "Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?"

My heart is crushed because my dear people are being crushed. I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.

There is still medicinal ointment available in Gilead! There is still a physician there! Why then have my dear people not been restored to health?

I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed.

Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, "I will now purify them in the fires of affliction and test them. The wickedness of my dear people has left me no choice. What else can I do?

"Tell these people this, Jeremiah: 'My eyes overflow with tears day and night without ceasing. For my people, my dear children, have suffered a crushing blow. They have suffered a serious wound.

I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, so that you will once again be built up. Once again you will take up the tambourine and join in the happy throng of dancers.

Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children. They are the children I take delight in. For even though I must often rebuke them, I still remember them with fondness. So I am deeply moved with pity for them and will surely have compassion on them. I, the Lord, affirm it!

I will say, 'My dear children of Israel, keep in mind the road you took when you were carried off. Mark off in your minds the landmarks. Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back. Return, my dear children of Israel. Return to these cities of yours.

Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, you dear poor people of Egypt. But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; there will be no healing for you.

Pack your bags for exile, you inhabitants of poor dear Egypt. For Memphis will be laid waste. It will lie in ruins and be uninhabited.

Poor dear Egypt will be put to shame. She will be handed over to the people from the north."

And a voice from heaven said, "This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight."

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!"

And a voice came from heaven: "You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight."

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came from the cloud, "This is my one dear Son. Listen to him!"

He had one left, his one dear son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight."

Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What should I do? I will send my one dear son; perhaps they will respect him.'

we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul,

Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God's wrath, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, laborers in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.

I am not writing these things to shame you, but to correct you as my dear children.

For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that could defile the body and the spirit, and thus accomplish holiness out of reverence for God.

Have you been thinking all this time that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up.

Tychicus, my dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you, so that you too may know about my circumstances, how I am doing.

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence,

So then, my brothers and sisters, dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!

You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave -- a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf --

Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.

I sent him with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.

Our dear friend Luke the physician and Demas greet you.

with such affection for you we were happy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

to Timothy, my dear child. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord!

From Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and colaborer,

no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking and in the Lord.

But in your case, dear friends, even though we speak like this, we are convinced of better things relating to salvation.

Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,

Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something strange were happening to you.

For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory: "This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted."

Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written you, in which I am trying to stir up your pure mind by way of reminder:

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.

And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him,

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men and fall from your firm grasp on the truth.

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have already heard.

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God,

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.

Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another.

From the elder, to Gaius my dear brother, whom I love in truth.

Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.

Dear friend, you demonstrate faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers (even though they are strangers).

Dear friend, do not imitate what is bad but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does what is bad has not seen God.

Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

But you, dear friends -- recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit,