desire
hav.vah denotes a desire or intended aim, often appearing in verses about wicked speech, schemes, and harmful circumstances.
The occurrences most often place the noun in settings of harm, deceit, accusation, or trouble, while several construct forms explicitly identify the desire or aim expressed by a person. The plural absolute form occurs in several hostile or troubled contexts, but the translation does not consistently isolate its contribution there.
Senses in use
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Harmful schemes, speech, or trouble · dominant
Plural absolute forms occur in clauses about evil speech and hostile circumstances: in Psalm 52:4 the APB renders “every word of swallowing” addressed to a deceitful tongue, and in Psalm 94:20 it renders people who “frame trouble by statute.” In Psalm 91:3 the APB has “the pestilence of desires,” while Psalm 5:10 and Psalm 55:12 likewise place the form in contexts of rebellion and taunting; the precise English correspondence remains uncertain.
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A person's expressed desire or aim · common
Construct forms identify what a person seeks or voices. In Micah 7:3 the APB renders the great one as speaking “the desire of his soul,” and Proverbs 10:3 contrasts the righteous person with “the desire of the wicked” that is thrust away. Proverbs 11:6 similarly places the term in the treacherous person's downfall, rendered “captured by their own desire.”
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB explicitly uses “desire” in several construct clauses, including Micah 7:3, Proverbs 10:3, and Proverbs 11:6. Elsewhere it renders whole clauses with terms such as “trouble,” “pestilence of desires,” or hostile speech, so its wording cannot consistently identify a single English equivalent for the lemma.