nachar · recognize

What it means

nachar (נָכַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “recognize”.

Know who someone is; take notice of, acknowledge. In other forms, act as a stranger, pretend not to know.

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 realize who someone is, or notice them.
2. To disguise oneself, pretend to be another.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To recognize: to realize who someone is or what something is, to take notice of someone. From the same root come the words for what is strange and foreign (נׇכְרִי, H5237), and some forms mean the opposite: to treat as a stranger, to disown, to pretend to be another.

• Recognizing a person or a thing Genesis 42:8Genesis 37:33Job 2:12
• “Recognize”: the evidence that is presented Genesis 37:32Genesis 38:25
• Taking notice of someone with favor Ruth 2:10Ruth 2:19Psalms 142:4
• “You shall not show partiality” in judgment Deuteronomy 1:17Deuteronomy 16:19
• Pretending, passing oneself off as another Genesis 42:71 Kings 14:5

Historical and cultural background

Genesis repeats the word in two deceptions: Jacob’s sons tell their father “recognize, please, whether it is the robe of your son or not” (37:32), and Tamar tells Judah, “Recognize, please, whose these are: the seal, the cord, and the staff” (38:25).

How we translate it

“Recognize” 16 times and “recognized” 10. הִכִּיר פָּנִים is rendered ‘show partiality’ (“you shall not show partiality”, Deuteronomy 16:19), and in Ruth 2:10 a note points out the wordplay with “foreigner”: “that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner”. The forms that say the opposite are rendered “he made himself a stranger to them” (Genesis 42:7) or “pretending to be another {woman}” (1 Kings 14:5). In 1 Samuel 23:7 the text says “has delivered him”, an uncertain sense that has a note.

How it is translated

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

• recognize ×16
• recognized ×10
• acknowledge ×3
• made ×2
• pretending to be another woman ×2
• regard ×2
• show partiality ×2
• May the one who took notice of ×1
• disguises himself ×1
• distinguish ×1
• others ×9

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×10
• Deuteronomy×5
• Judges×1
• Ruth×3
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×4
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×8
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×4
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×2
• Lamentations×1
• Daniel×1

• Genesis 27:23

  He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother; so he blessed him.

• Genesis 31:32

  Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our brothers, recognize for yourself what of yours is with me and take it for yourself.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

• Genesis 37:32

  They sent the long robe and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; recognize, please, whether it is the robe of your son or not.”

• Genesis 37:33

  He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A fierce animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”

• Genesis 38:25

  As she was being brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong I am pregnant.” And she said, “Recognize, please, whose these are: the seal, the cord, and the staff.”

• Genesis 38:26

  Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he did not again know her.

• Genesis 42:7

  Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he made himself a stranger to them and spoke with them harshly. He said to them, “Where have you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

• Genesis 42:8

  Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

• Deuteronomy 1:17

  You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of anyone, for the judgment is Elohim’s. And the case that is too hard for you you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

• Deuteronomy 16:19

  You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

• Deuteronomy 21:17

  But the firstborn, the son of the hated one, he shall acknowledge by giving him a double portion of all that is found to be his, for he is the firstfruits of his vigor; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

• Deuteronomy 32:27

  if I did not fear the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries misjudge it, lest they say, “Our hand is raised high, and it is not YHWH who has done all this.”’

• Deuteronomy 33:9

  who says of his father and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him’; and his brothers he did not acknowledge, and his sons he did not know, for they kept your word and guard your covenant.

• Judges 18:3

  They were near the house of Micah, and they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what is there for you here?”

• Ruth 2:10

  Then she fell on her face and bowed down to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?”

• Ruth 2:19

  Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today, and where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

• Ruth 3:14

  So she lay at his feet until the morning, and rose before a man could recognize his companion; and he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

• 1 Samuel 23:7

  It was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “Elohim has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town with gates and bar.”

• 1 Samuel 26:17

  Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord the king.”

• 2 Samuel 3:36

  All the people took note, and it was good in their eyes, as everything that the king did was good in the eyes of all the people.

• 1 Kings 14:5

  But YHWH had said to Ahijah, “Look, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall speak to her. And it will be, when she comes in, that she will be pretending to be another woman.”

• 1 Kings 14:6

  And it happened, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the doorway, that he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you pretending to be another woman? And I am sent to you with a hard word.

• 1 Kings 18:7

  As Obadiah was on the way, there was Elijah to meet him. He recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

• 1 Kings 20:41

  He hurried and removed the bandage from over his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was one of the prophets.

• Ezra 3:13

  And the people did not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people were shouting with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

• Nehemiah 6:12

  And I recognized, and in fact, that it was not Elohim who had sent him, but he had spoken the prophecy against me, and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

• Nehemiah 13:24

  And as for their sons, half spoke the language of Ashdod, and they did not know how to speak the language of Judah, but according to the language of each people.

• Job 2:12

  They lifted up their eyes from a distance and did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept; each tore his robe, and they scattered dust over their heads toward the heavens.

• Job 4:16

  It stood still, but I could not recognize its appearance; a figure was before my eyes; silence, and I heard a voice:

• Job 7:10

  He will not return again to his house, nor will his place recognize him anymore.

• Job 21:29

  Have you not asked those who pass along the road, and their signs you do not fail to recognize:

• Job 24:13

  They are among those who rebel against the light; they do not recognize its ways, and do not remain in its paths.

• Job 24:17

  For to all of them morning is the shadow of death, for they recognize the terrors of the shadow of death.

• Job 34:19

  To him who does not show partiality to princes nor regard the rich above the poor, for the work of his hands are they all.

• Job 34:25

  Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns them at night, and they are crushed.

• Psalms 103:16

  for a wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place no longer recognizes it.

• Psalms 142:4

  Look to the right and see: there is no one who recognizes me; escape has perished from me; there is no one who inquires after my soul.

• Proverbs 20:11

  Even by his deeds a youth makes himself known, whether clean and whether upright is his work.

• Proverbs 24:23

  These also are of the wise. To recognize faces in judgment is not good.

• Proverbs 26:24

  With his lips the one who hates disguises himself, and within himself he lays up deceit.

And 9 more times.