The Hebrew word ahaba is translated in the Greek bible with agape1 – a noun practically unknown in the secular language – rather than with the verb agapao, "to welcome with affection," especially a child or a guest. Here, the idea is one of "tender inclination toward" (which is found again in the Latin dilegere-dilectio) or one of friendship (the Greek phileo-philia2). The word eros3, "passionate love," on the other hand, is found only twice in the Septuagint, and never in the New Testament.
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1. agape (Septuagint): 2 Kgs 1:26; 13:15; Eccl 9:1; 9:6; Song 2:4, 5, 7, 5:8, 7:5; 8:4, 6, 7; Wis 3:9; 6:18; Sir 48:11; Jer 2:2.
2. philia (Septuagint): employed only in the wisdom books (Proverbs, Wisdom, and Sirach) and in Maccabees (1-4).
3. eros (Septuagint): Prv 7:18; 30:16,