נָטַשׁ
to leave
also: permit, forsake, reject, suffer fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘leave’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”). Here: ‘be forsaken’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel. Here: ‘only’
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H5203 appears in the Book of Psalms — 3 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Psalms
- Psalms 27:9 תִּטְּשֵׁ֥/נִי Qal juss 2ms + sfx pers 1cs Don't hide your face from me. Don't put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don't abandon me, Neither forsake me, God of my salvation.
- Psalms 78:60 וַ֭/יִּטֹּשׁ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;
- Psalms 94:14 יִטֹּ֣שׁ Qal impf 3ms For Yahweh won't reject his people, Neither will he forsake his inheritance.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
“to leave” is the headline sense of the Hebrew verb נטש (nâṭash). Scripture first uses it in Genesis 31:28. With 39 verses in 17 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. The verb spans 3 stems, from Qal to Niphal. From the same root come נטישה. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5203 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 39
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 39 distinct verses.
- 17 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 17 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #909
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 909 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 39 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 39 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 28 verses · 72%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 18%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 4 verses · 10%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Forsake 3×, Spread 3×, Have left 2×
- American Standard Version: Spread 3×, Forsake 2×, He forsook 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Spread out 3×, Abandon 2×, Forsake 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Forsake 4×, Do 3×, Left 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5203 across 40 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 30 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5203 across 40 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 31 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H5203 across 40 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 27 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5203 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 31 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
9 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Pual (the passive of Piel).
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 9 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. נ׳ 1 S 10:2, sf. 1 pl. נְטָשָׁ֫נוּ Ju 6:13; 2 ms. נָמַשְׁתָּ 1 S 17:28, נָמַשְׁתָּה Is 2:6, sf. נְטַשְׁתַּ֫נִי Gn 31:28, וּנְטַשְׁתָּהּ consec. Ex 23:11, etc.; Impf. יִטּשׁ 1 S 12:22 ψ 94:14, יִטּוֹשׁ Ho 12:15, sf. 1 pl. יִטְּשֵׁנוּ 1 K 8:57; 1 pl. נִטּשׁ Ne 10:32, etc.; Imv. נְטוֹשׁ Pr 17:14; Pt. pass. f. נְטוּשָׁה Is 21:15; mpl. נְטֻשִׁים 1 S 30:16;— e.g. 1 Samuel 10:2
- 1. leave, let alone Ex 23:11 (E; = let field lie fallow, ‖ שָׁמַט), cf. וְנִטּשׁ אֶת־הַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִית וּמַשָּׁא כָל־יָ֑ד Ne 10:32 (i.e. leave field fallow and debts unclaimed); obj. quails, let them lie, (עַל loc.) Nu 11:31 (JE), of Amalekites נְטֻשִׁים עַל־פְּנֵי כָל־הָאָרֶץ 1 S 30:16 left to themselves over all the land; וְדָמָיו עָלָיו יִטּוֹשׁ Ho 12:15 and his mortal guilt shall he leave upon him; leave in charge of, entrust to (עַל pers.): sheep 1 S 17:20, 28; baggage v 22. e.g. Exodus 23:11
- 2. usually forsake, abandon, נ׳ דִּבְרֵי הָאֲתֹנוֹת 1 S 10:2 thy father hath abandoned the matter of the asses (ceased to be concerned about them); הָרִיב נְטוֹשׁ Pr 17:14 abandon contention; often subj. י׳, c. acc. pers. Ju 6:13; Is 2:6; 1 S 12:22; 1 K 8:57 (‖ עָזַב) 2 K 21:14; Je 7:29; 12:7 (‖ עָזַב), 23:33, 39 ψ 27:9 (‖ עָזַב), 94:14 (‖ id.); of י׳ leaving Phar. forsaken (on ground, cf. Niph. 1) Ez 29:5 (+ ה loc.), 32:4 (+ ב loc.); abandoning the sanctuary at Shiloh ψ 78:60; of men forsaking God Dt 32:15 (poem), Je 15:6; cf. אַל־תִּטּשׁ תּוֹרַת אִמֶּ֑ךָ Pr 1:8; 6:20; of men abandoning kg. (under fig. of cedar) Ez 31:12(×2). e.g. 1 Samuel 10:2
- 3. permit, only וְלֹא נְטַשְׁתַּנִי לְנַשֵּׁק לְבָנַי וגו׳ Gn 31:28 (E) and hast not permitted me to kiss my sons, etc.—For וַתִּטּשׁ הַמִּלְחָמָה 1 S 4:2 read prob. וַתֵּט (𝔊 ἔκλινεν) Dr Klo Bu, or וַתִּקֶשׁ (קשׁה) grew fierce HPS (Löhr proposes תִּנָּטֵשׁ cf. Ju 15:9 etc.). For חֶרֶב נְטוּשָׁה Is 21:15 (‖ קֶשֶׁת דְּרוּכָה) read perhaps ח׳ לְטוּשָׁה. e.g. Genesis 31:28
Niphal
- Pf. 3 fs. נִטְּשָׁה Am 5:2; 3 pl. נִטְּשׁוּ Is 16:8; 33:23; Impf. 3 mpl. וַיִּנָּֽטְשׁוּ Ju 15:9 + 2 times;— e.g. Amos 5:2
- 1. be forsaken, Am 5:2 she (Isr.) lieth forsaken (עַל loc.). e.g. Amos 5:2
- 2. be loosened or loose (proposes be let alone, left to hang down) of ship’s tackle Is 33:23. e.g. Isaiah 33:23
- 3. be let go, spread abroad, of warriors, Ju 15:9; 2 S 5:18, 22 (all c. ב loc., for purpose of plunder); of tendrils of vine Is 16:8 (fig. of Moab). e.g. Judges 15:9
Pual
- Pf. only אַרְמוֹן נֻטָּ֑שׁ Is 32:14 palaces are abandoned, deserted (‖ הֲמוֹן עִיר עֻזָּ֑ב). e.g. Isaiah 32:14
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. leave, forsake, permit (𝔗 forsake; draw off skin of dead animal; Arabic نَطِسٌ = abstinens ab impuro according to Ḳam (Frey));—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
נָטַשׁ I
- to polish, sharpen. Snh. 95ᵇ (כלום) מגלך נְטוּשָׁה is thy sickle (of death) polished? Sabb. 67ᵃ (in an incantation) חרב שלופה וקלע נטושח the sword is drawn and (the stones of) the sling sharpened.
*נטַשׁ
- , esp. (cmp. מָרַק) to dress a dead animal. Snh. 100ᵇ לא תִנְטושׁ וכ׳ (Ms. M. תפשוט), v. גִּלְדָּנָא.—B. Bath. 110ᵃ נְטוֹשׁ וכ׳ (Ms. M. פשוט; Ar. נשוט), v. נְבֵלְתָּא; (Pes. 113ᵃ פשוט, Ar. נשוט).
נָטַשׁ II
- to sink, drop (cmp. Num. XI, 31); to abandon, let alone, v. infra. Gen. R. s. 75 אם רחקת ונָטַשְׁתָּה וכ׳ if thou wert to reject and abandon Jacob &c.; Yalk. Ps. 653. e.g. Numbers 11:31
- same. Snh. 6ᵇ (ref. to Prov. XVII, 14) לנַטְּשׁוֹ to drop it (the case, to compromise), v. גָּלַע; Tanḥ. Mishp. 6; Y. Snh. I, 18ᵇ לנוֹטְשׁוֹ. e.g. Proverbs 17:14
- to be torn loose, be released. Pesik. Baḥod., p. 154ᵇ ני׳ מחורש וכ׳ (not מחודש) released from one thicket and caught &c.; ib. נו׳; Yalk. Num. 782 נו׳ וכ׳; (Y. Taan. II, 65ᵈ top ניתור, v. נָתַר I; Lev. R. s. 29, a. e. ניתש, v. נָתַשׁ).
נְטַשׁ
- Targ. Ps. XCIV, 14.
- same. Y. Shek. V, 48ᵈ top נטשנה דלא תימות גבן נטשת Ms. M. (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. p. 42), read: נַטְּשׁוּנָהּ נטשונה … let her go, that she may not die while with us; they did let her go (ed. אפקונה).
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 36 distinct written forms H5203 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5203, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 36 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 39 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 31:28
- Exodus 23:11
- Numbers 11:31
- Deuteronomy 32:15
- Judges 6:13
- 1 Samuel 4:2
- 2 Samuel 5:18
- 1 Kings 8:57
- 2 Kings 21:14
- Psalms 27:9
- Proverbs 1:8
- Isaiah 2:6
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
