nagas · drive; taskmaster

What it means

nagas (נָגַשׂ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “drive; taskmaster”.

Drive, press hard; one who forces others to work, a taskmaster; also one who collects a debt.

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. One who forces others to work harshly.
2. To press for what is owed, like a creditor or collector.
3. To be abused, suffer oppression.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• taskmasters ×6
• oppressor ×3
• oppressors ×2
• press ×2
• were hard pressed ×2
• He was mistreated ×1
• driver ×1
• exactor ×1
• he exacted ×1
• ruler ×1
• others ×3

Where it appears

• Exodus×5
• Deuteronomy×2
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×2
• Isaiah×8
• Daniel×1
• Zechariah×2

• Exodus 3:7

  YHWH said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sufferings.

• Exodus 5:6

  That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their supervisors, saying,

• Exodus 5:10

  So the taskmasters of the people and their supervisors went out and said to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving you straw.

• Exodus 5:13

  The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Complete your work, each day’s task on its day, just as when there was straw.”

• 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?”

• Deuteronomy 15:2

  And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release the loan of his hand that he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not press his neighbor or his brother, because a release to YHWH has been proclaimed.

• Deuteronomy 15:3

  The foreigner you may press; but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release.

• 1 Samuel 13:6

  The men of Israel saw that they were in distress, for the people were hard pressed, and the people hid in the caves, in the thickets, in the rocks, in the strongholds, and in the cisterns.

• 1 Samuel 14:24

  The men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, and Saul put the people under an imprecation, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats bread until the evening, and until I have avenged myself on my enemies.” And none of the people tasted bread.

• 2 Kings 23:35

  The silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh; but he assessed the land to give the silver according to the order of Pharaoh; from each according to his assessment he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

• Job 3:18

  Together the prisoners are untroubled; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

• Job 39:7

  He laughs at the multitude of the city; the clamor of the driver he does not hear.

• Isaiah 3:5

  And the people will be oppressed, man by man, and man by his neighbor; the youth will be insolent toward the elder, and the despised toward the honored.

• Isaiah 3:12

  My people — its oppressors are children, and women rule over it. My people, those who guide you lead you astray, and the way of your paths they have swallowed up.

• Isaiah 9:4

  For the yoke of its burden and the staff of its shoulder, the rod of its oppressor, you have shattered as on the day of Midian.

• Isaiah 14:2

  And peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance on the ground of YHWH as male slaves and female slaves; and they will be captors of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

• Isaiah 14:4

  that you will take up this poem against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased, the fury has ceased!

• Isaiah 53:7

  He was mistreated, and he humbled himself, and he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a ewe that before her shearers is silent, and he did not open his mouth.

• Isaiah 58:3

  ‘Why have we fasted, and you did not see? Why have we humbled our soul, and you do not know?’ Look, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and you oppress all your workers.

• Isaiah 60:17

  Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron; and I will make your administration peace, and your taskmasters righteousness.

• Daniel 11:20

  And there will stand up in his place one who sends an exactor through the splendor of the kingdom; but in a few days he will be broken, and not in anger nor in battle.

• Zechariah 9:8

  And I will encamp at my house as a garrison, against the one who passes through and the one who returns; and no oppressor will pass over them again, for now I have seen with my eyes.

• Zechariah 10:4

  From him the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the bow of war; from him will come out every ruler, together.