The primary Hebrew verb for love in all its dimensions — from God's love for His people to romantic love to love for neighbor. It appears over 200 times. Unlike Greek, which uses multiple words for different types of love, Hebrew uses ahab broadly.
God's ahab for Israel motivates salvation history: "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). The command to love God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and neighbor (Leviticus 19:18) forms the ethical core of the Old Testament — what Jesus called the greatest commandments.
The Song of Solomon celebrates ahab — romantic love as a reflection of divine love. Hosea depicts God as a heartbroken husband who refuses to stop loving unfaithful Israel. The Greek agapē (G26) develops the divine-love dimension further.