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נָגַף

nagaf · strike, defeat

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H5062 · appears 49 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

nagaf (נָגַף) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “strike, defeat”.

Strike, smite with a plague; also gore, defeat, stumble.

How to say it

na·gaf

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. To punish with a blow; YHWH does it with a plague or by letting a battle be lost.
  2. To lose a battle and flee before the enemy.
  3. To strike one's foot against a stone on the road.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To strike, to smite: above all the blow YHWH gives with a plague or a defeat, and that of a defeated army. Also to strike against something, to stumble. From the same root are נֶגֶף and מַגֵּפָה, ‘plague’.

Historical and cultural background

On the night of the Passover, YHWH “will pass through to strike Egypt”, and when he sees the blood on the lintel he will pass over the door (Exodus 12:23). The law and the prophets announce that, if the people turn away, they will be struck down before their enemies (Leviticus 26:17; Deuteronomy 28:25).

How we translate it

“Struck down” 22 times and “struck” 8, “strike” and “will strike” 9. In battles the same verb is kept for the defeated army: “Israel was struck down before the Philistines” (1 Samuel 4:2), as in the curses of the covenant (Leviticus 26:17); “defeated” in Deuteronomy 28:25. When it is the foot hitting a stone, “so that you do not strike your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:12) or “will not stumble” (Proverbs 3:23); “hurt” in Exodus 21:22.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • struck down ×22
  • struck ×8
  • will strike ×5
  • strike ×4
  • defeated ×2
  • stumble ×2
  • am going to plague ×1
  • are completely ×1
  • hurt ×1
  • hurts ×1
  • others ×2

Related words

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Exodus 8:2

    But if you refuse to let them go, look, I am going to plague all your territory with frogs.

  • Exodus 12:23

    For YHWH will pass through to strike Egypt; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, YHWH will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

  • Exodus 12:27

    you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to YHWH, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he struck Egypt and delivered our houses.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and bowed down.

  • Exodus 21:22

    When men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that her children come out, but there is no harm, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.

  • Exodus 21:35

    When a man's ox hurts the ox of his neighbor and it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide its silver, and the dead ox they shall also divide.

  • Exodus 32:35

    And YHWH plagued the people because they had made the calf that Aaron made.

  • Leviticus 26:17

    And I will set my face against you, and you will be struck down before your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.

  • Numbers 14:42

    Do not go up, for YHWH is not in your midst, so that you will not be struck down before your enemies.

  • Deuteronomy 1:42

    YHWH said to me, “Say to them, ‘Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not among you, so that you are not struck down before your enemies.’”

  • Deuteronomy 28:7

    YHWH will make your enemies who rise up against you defeated before you; they will come out against you by one way and flee before you by seven ways.

  • Deuteronomy 28:25

    YHWH will make you defeated before your enemies; you will go out against them by one way and flee before them by seven ways; and you will be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

  • Joshua 24:5

    And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought out you.

  • Judges 20:32

    And the sons of Benjamin said, “They are struck down before us as at the first.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.”

  • Judges 20:35

    And YHWH struck down Benjamin before Israel, and the sons of Israel brought down in Benjamin on that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men; all these were men who drew the sword.

  • Judges 20:36

    So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were struck down. The men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin, because they trusted in the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

  • Judges 20:39

    Then the men of Israel turned in the war, and Benjamin began to strike men dead among the men of Israel, about thirty men, for they said, “Surely they are completely struck down before us, as in the first war.”

  • 1 Samuel 4:2

    And the Philistines drew up their lines to meet Israel, and the war spread out, and Israel was struck down before the Philistines, who struck in the battle line in the field about four thousand men.

  • 1 Samuel 4:3

    And the people came to the camp, and the elders of Israel said, “Why has YHWH struck us down today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of YHWH, so that it may come among us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

  • 1 Samuel 4:10

    So the Philistines fought, and Israel was struck down, and they fled each to his tent; and the blow was very great, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.

  • 1 Samuel 7:10

    And it happened, as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, that the Philistines drew near for war against Israel; and YHWH thundered with a great voice on that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were struck down before Israel.

  • 1 Samuel 25:38

    About ten days later YHWH struck down Nabal, and he died.

  • 1 Samuel 26:10

    David said, “As YHWH lives, surely YHWH will strike him down, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away.

  • 2 Samuel 2:17

    The battle was extremely hard on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were struck down before the servants of David.

  • 2 Samuel 10:15

    When Aram saw that it had been struck down before Israel, they gathered together.

  • 2 Samuel 10:19

    When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they had been struck down before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. And Aram was afraid to save the sons of Ammon anymore.

  • 2 Samuel 12:15

    Then Nathan went to his house. And YHWH struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David, and he became very ill.

  • 2 Samuel 18:7

    The people of Israel were struck down there before the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day: twenty thousand.

  • 1 Kings 8:33

    When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and give thanks to your name and pray and make supplication to you in this house,

  • 2 Kings 14:12

    Judah was struck down before Israel, and they fled, each to his tent.

  • 1 Chronicles 19:16

    When Aram saw that they had been struck down before Israel, they sent messengers and brought out Aram that was beyond the River, with Shophach, the commander of the army of Hadadezer, at their head.

  • 1 Chronicles 19:19

    When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been struck down before Israel, they made peace with David and served him. And Aram was not willing to save the sons of Ammon anymore.

  • 2 Chronicles 6:24

    And if your people Israel is struck down before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they return and give thanks to your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

  • 2 Chronicles 13:15

    The men of Judah raised the acclamation; and it happened, when the men of Judah raised the acclamation, that Elohim struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

  • 2 Chronicles 13:20

    Jeroboam did not retain strength again in the days of Abijah; and YHWH struck him, and he died.

  • 2 Chronicles 14:12

    YHWH struck the Cushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Cushites fled.

  • 2 Chronicles 20:22

    And at the time they began with shouts of joy and praise, YHWH set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who were coming against Judah; and they were struck down.

  • 2 Chronicles 21:14

    look, YHWH is going to strike with a great plague your people, your sons, your wives, and all your goods;

  • 2 Chronicles 21:18

    After all this YHWH struck him in his bowels with a disease for which there was no cure.

  • 2 Chronicles 25:22

    Judah was struck down before Israel, and they fled, each to his tent.

  • Psalms 89:23

    And I will crush to pieces his adversaries before him, and those who hate him I will strike.

And 9 more times.