nacha · strike

What it means

nacha (נָכָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “strike”.

Hit, wound; often, kill; also strike down, defeat.

How to say it

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 give a blow to someone or something, with the hand or a weapon.
2. To strike dead, kill.
3. To attack and beat in battle.
4. God punishes with a plague.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Strike, wound, lightly or severely, literally or figuratively (BDB). Often the blow is deadly, and in battles it means to defeat. From this verb comes מַכָּה, a blow (H4347).

• To strike a person, sometimes to death Exodus 2:11Exodus 2:12
• To strike something with an object: the waters with the staff Exodus 7:20
• To strike as God's punishment: the firstborn of Egypt Exodus 12:12
• To defeat in battle Genesis 14:5

How we translate it

“Struck” 328 times, “strike” 112, “strikes” 30, “striking” 14. This edition translates “strike” also when the blow kills, and notes it, so that it can be seen to be the same verb: Moses “struck the Egyptian” (Exodus 2:12), YHWH will “strike every firstborn” (Exodus 12:12). In war stories, “defeated” (Genesis 14:5).

How it is translated

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

• struck ×328
• strike ×112
• strikes ×30
• striking ×14
• defeated ×3
• had inflicted on him ×3
• it ×2
• wounded ×2
• are beaten ×1
• blows ×1
• others ×5

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×12
• Exodus×28
• Leviticus×5
• Numbers×30
• Deuteronomy×24
• Joshua×38
• Judges×29
• 1 Samuel×52
• 2 Samuel×47
• 1 Kings×22
• 2 Kings×57
• 1 Chronicles×25
• 2 Chronicles×20
• Nehemiah×1
• Esther×1
• Job×4
• Psalms×14
• Proverbs×6
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×21
• Jeremiah×30
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×13
• Daniel×1
• Hosea×3
• Amos×4
• Jonah×2
• Micah×2
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×6
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 4:15

  And YHWH said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And YHWH put a sign on Cain, so that no one who found him would strike him.

• Genesis 8:21

  And YHWH smelled the pleasing aroma, and YHWH said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human being, for the inclination of the heart of the human being is evil from his youth; and I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.

• Genesis 14:5

  In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

• Genesis 14:7

  Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

• Genesis 14:15

  He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

• Genesis 14:17

  After he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King).

• Genesis 19:11

  And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, from small to great, so that they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance.

• Genesis 32:8

  For he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

• Genesis 32:11

  Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, the mothers with the children.

• Genesis 34:30

  Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And I have few men; if they gather against me and strike me, I will be destroyed, I and my house.”

• Genesis 36:35

  Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who struck Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place; and the name of his city was Avith.

• Genesis 37:21

  But Reuben heard it and delivered him from their hands, and said, “Let us not take his life.”

• Exodus 2:11

  In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

• Exodus 2:12

  He looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one, he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

• Exodus 2:13

  He went out the next day, and look, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the wicked one, “Why are you striking your companion?”

• Exodus 3:20

  So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my marvels that I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.

• Exodus 5:14

  And the supervisors of the sons of Israel, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had set over them, were beaten, being told, “Why have you not completed your quota of making bricks as before, both yesterday and today?”

• Exodus 5:16

  No straw is given to your servants, yet bricks! they keep saying to us, ‘Make them!’ And look, your servants are beaten; but the sin is your people’s.”

• Exodus 7:17

  Thus says YHWH: “By this you will know that I am YHWH: look, I am going to strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the Nile, and it will be turned into blood.

• Exodus 7:20

  Moses and Aaron did so, as YHWH had commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.

• Exodus 7:25

  Seven days were completed after YHWH struck the Nile.

• Exodus 8:16

  YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.’”

• Exodus 8:17

  They did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on people and on animals; all the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

• Exodus 9:15

  For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been wiped out from the earth.

• Exodus 9:25

  The hail struck, throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, from people to animals; and the hail struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field.

• Exodus 9:31

  The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear and the flax in bud.

• Exodus 9:32

  But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they are late.

• Exodus 12:12

  I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am YHWH.

• Exodus 12:13

  The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no destroying plague will be among you when I strike the land of Egypt.

• Exodus 12:29

  At midnight YHWH struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock.

• Exodus 17:5

  YHWH said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and your staff, with which you struck the Nile, take in your hand, and go.

• Exodus 17:6

  Look, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

• Exodus 21:12

  Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 21:15

  Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 21:18

  When men quarrel and a man strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,

• Exodus 21:19

  if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, the one who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for his lost time and have him thoroughly healed.

• Exodus 21:20

  When a man strikes his male slave or his female slave with the rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall surely be avenged.

• Exodus 21:26

  When a man strikes the eye of his male slave or the eye of his female slave and destroys it, he shall let him go free on account of his eye.

• Exodus 22:2

  If the thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there is no bloodguilt for him;

• Leviticus 24:17

  And if a man strikes mortally any human being, he shall surely be put to death.

And 461 more times.