Bible Dictionary
CHERISH
To cherish means to care for, foster, warm, or tenderly nourish. Scripture uses the word for a husband’s care of his wife and for Paul’s gentle care of believers.
Definition
To cherish means to act as a friend, be useful, warm, foster, nourish, or tenderly care for another. The word may describe both practical help and affectionate nurture.
Biblical Usage
Scripture uses the term for the care a husband should show his wife, as he cares for his own body, and for Paul’s gentle conduct among his converts, compared with a nurse caring for her children.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>cher'-ish (cakhan; thalpo): Cakhan, "to act the friend," "to be useful," is translated "cherish" (1Ki 1:2,4); thalpo, "to warm," "to make warm," "to foster" (Eph 5:29), said of the regard the husband should have for his wife, even as his own flesh which he "nourisheth and cherisheth, even as Christ also the church," and in 1Th 2:7, of Paul amongst his converts, "as when a nurse cherisheth her own children."</p>