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נָכַר

to know

‘to know’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓

H5234 Strong's Hebrew
nâkar Transliteration
/naw-kar'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 50 appearances

Compare with another word →

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.

The Hebrew verb נכר centers on the idea of “to know.” Across 4 stems, its meaning turns on the binyan (Niphal, Piel). The Hebrew Bible uses it across 47 verses — moderately common. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 27:23. Sharing its root, it stands alongside הכרה, מכר and נכר. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
acknowledge
Modern gloss
to know
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H5234 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 →

47
distinct verses
The word appears in 47 distinct verses.
16 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 16 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 27:23
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 27:23.
Daniel 11:39
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Daniel 11:39.
#739
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 739 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 47 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 13 · 28%
  • Historical 14 · 30%
  • Wisdom 14 · 30%
  • Prophets 6 · 13%

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 47 distinct verses.

  • Writings (Ketuvim) 22 verses · 47%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 13 verses · 28%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 12 verses · 26%

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: Knew 3×, Discern 2×, Have respect 2×
  • American Standard Version: Knew 3×, Discern 2×, Have respect 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Recognized 6×, Recognize him 2×, Show partiality 2×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Recognized 5×, And 4×, Acknowledge 3×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H5234 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Knew” 3×
  • “Discern” 2×
  • “Have respect” 2×
  • “He knew” 2×
  • “He shall acknowledge” 2×
  • “Know” 2×
  • “They knew” 2×

Plus 34 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H5234 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Knew” 3×
  • “Discern” 2×
  • “Have respect” 2×
  • “Him” 2×
  • “They know” 2×

Plus 38 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 H5234 across 48 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Recognized” 6×
  • “Recognize him” 2×
  • “Show partiality” 2×

Plus 38 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H5234 across 69 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Recognized” 5×
  • “And” 4×
  • “Acknowledge” 3×
  • “Does” 3×
  • “Recognize him” 3×
  • “Recognizing” 3×
  • “He did” 2×
  • “Recognize” 2×

Plus 44 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 Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal).

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.

Niphal

Piel

  • Pf. לֹא נִכַּר שׁוֹעַ לִפְנֵי־דָ֑ל Jb 34:19 he regardeth not the opulent above the poor (‖ לֹא־נָשָׂא פְּנֵי שָׂרִים); Impf. לֹא תְנַכֵּ֑רוּ Jb 21:29 do ye not recognize their tokens. e.g. Job 34:19

Hiphil

  • Pf. הִכִּיר Dt 33:9; Dn 11:39 Kt; sf. הִכִּירוֹ Gn 27:23; 3 pl. הִכִּירוּ Ju 18:3 + 2 times, sf. הִכִּירֻהוּ Jb 2:12, הִכִּרֻהוּ Gn 42:8; Impf. יַכִּיר Dt 21:17 + 3 times + Dn 11:39 Qr; וַיַּכֵּר Gn 38:26 +; sf. וַיַּכִּרֵ֫הוּ 1 K 18:7, יַכִּירֶ֫נּוּ Jb 7:10, וַיַּכִּירָהּ Gn 37:33, etc.; Imv. הַֽכֶּר־ Gn 31:32 + 2 times; Inf. abs. הַכֵּֽר־ (Ginsb van d. H. הַֽכֶּר־) Pr 24:23; 28:21; cstr. sf. הַכִּירֵנִי Ru 2:10; Pt. מַכִּיר ψ 142:5, sf. מַכִּירֵךְ Ru 2:19, etc.;— e.g. Deuteronomy 33:9
  • 1. regard, observe, especially with a view to recognition, c. obj. cl., Gn 31:32; 37:32; 38:25; pay attention to, c. acc. pers. Ru 2:10, 19; acc. rei (of God) Jb 34:25; acc. rei om. 2 S 3:36; י׳ subj. כֵּן אַכִּיר … לְטוֹבָה Je 24:5 so will I regard the exiles … for good; Antiochus subj. Dn 11:39; הִכִּיר פָּנִים pay regard to (shew partiality, = נָשָׂא פְּנֵי פ׳) Dt 1:17; 16:19 (‖ הִטָּה מִשְׁפָּט), Pr 24:23; 28:21. e.g. Genesis 31:32
  • 2. Recognize (as formerly known) c. acc. pers. vel rei, Gn 27:23; 37:33; 38:26 (all J), 42:7, 8(×2) (E), 1 K 18:7; 20:41; Jb 2:12; proverb. בְּטֶרֶם יַכִּיר אִישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ Ru 3:14 before a man could recognize his fellow (i.e. before dawn); recognize voice (קוֹל), Ju 18:3; 1 S 26:17; = perceive the true situation, וָאַכִּירָה וְהִנֵּה Ne 6:12 and I perceived, and lo! God had not sent him. e.g. Genesis 27:23
  • 3. Be willing to recognize, acknowledge Dt 21:17; 33:9; Is 63:16 (‖ יָדַע), ψ 142:5; acknowledge with honour Is 61:9. e.g. Deuteronomy 21:17
  • 4. Be acquainted with, לֹא יַכִּירֶנּוּ עוֹד מְקוֹמוֹ Jb 7:10 his place shall be acquainted with him no more (he shall be gone and forgotten), cf. ψ 103:16; c. acc. rei Jb 24:13, 17. e.g. Job 7:10
  • 5. Distinguish, understand, הִכִּיר קוֹל … לְקוֹל Ezr 3:13 could not distinguish, etc.; cf. Jb 4:16 could not distinguish its appearance; הִכִּיר לְדַבֵּר Ne 13:24 understand how to speak, etc. e.g. Ezra 3:13

Hithpael

  • Impf. יִתְנַכֶּר־נָ֑עַר Pr 20:11 by his deeds a youth maketh himself known, whether his doing be pure, etc. e.g. Proverbs 20:11

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. (not Qal) regard, recognize (NH Hiph. know, be acquainted with; 𝔗 Aph. id.; Syriac Aph. ܐܰܟܰܪ id.; cf. also Arabic نَكِرَ in sense be shrewd, appar. rare, cf. نُكْرٌ cunning Lane 2850 a. v. p. 1125);—

— 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

Part of speech: Verb TWOT: 1368


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.

נָכַר

  • (b. h.) to be unknown, strange.
    • 1. to recognize, know; to favor. Ruth R. to II, 10 (ref. to להכירני, ib.) נתנבאה … להַכִּירָהּ כדרך וכ׳ she prophesied that he would know her in the way of all people (as his wife, cmp. יָדַע). Ber. 10ᵇ האשה מַכֶּרֶת באורחין וכ׳ woman recognizes the character of guests better than man. R. Hash. II, 1 אם אינן מַכִּירִין אותו if the court does not know him personally. Y. Yeb. IV, 6ᵇ כנסה ולא הִכִּירָהּ he married her but did not touch her (v. supra). Snh. 7ᵇ (ref. to Deut. I, 17) לא תַכִּירֵהוּ thou shalt not favor him (if he is thy friend); a. fr.—Num. R. s. 9 במקום שמכיר where he knows (the people), where he is acquainted; Sifré Num. 14 במקום שמכירין אותו. e.g. Deuteronomy 1:17
    • 2. to make known, identify; to acknowledge, own. R. Hash. l. c. מן המכירים on the declaration of those who identify (the witnesses; v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 2). Gen. R. s. 43 לא היה שמי ניכר … והִכַּרְתָּ אותי וכ׳ my name was unknown … and thou hast made me known among my creatures. Sifré Deut. 217; Kidd. 78ᵇ, a. e. (ref. to יכיר, Deut. XXI, 17) יַכִּירֶנּוּ לאחרים he may identify him before others (as his first born son). Sifré Deut. 312 שאהיה מַכִּירוֹ that I may make it known as mine. Ib. מהיכן המקום מַכִּיר את חלקו beginning with whom does the Lord acknowledge his share (claim as his)? With Jacob; a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 21:17
    • to be recognized; to be discernible. Kidd. III, 5 ה׳ עוברה her pregnancy was certain, v. הַכָּרָה; ib. 62ᵇ. B. Mets. 93ᵇ ה׳ הגנב the thief was found out; a. e.
    • same. Part. נִיכָּר. Ber. 28ᵃ מכותלי … אתה נ׳ וכ׳ by the walls of thy house, one sees that thou art a smith. Kidd. 31ᵃ מסוף דברך נ׳ וכ׳ from thy last words (the fifth and following commandments of the decalogue) it is seen that thy first one is true. Ib. מבין ריסי עיניך נ׳, v. רִיס. Gitt. 53ᵃ שאינו נ׳, v. הֶיזֵּק. Sabb. 91ᵇ מקומו נ׳ its location is discernible. Sot. 9ᵇ נִיכָּרִין דברי אמת words of truth are easily recognized. Gen. R. s. 43, v. supra; a. fr.
    • to treat as a stranger, ignore; to discriminate against. Snh. l. c. (ref. to Deut. I, 17) לא תְנַכְּרֵהוּ (if he is thy enemy) do not discriminate against him (v. supra). Sifré Deut. 322 בשעת … מְנַכְּרִים וכ׳ when Israel is in trouble, the nations ignore them and act as though they did not know them; a. e. e.g. Deuteronomy 1:17

נְכַר

  • ; Af. אַכֵּר to recognize, know. Targ. Y. I Gen. XXXVIII, 25, sq.
    • to be distinguishable. B. Kam. 5ᵃ דמִינַּכְּרָא, v. הֶיוֵּקָא. Ib. 97ᵃ מִינַּכַּר היזיקה its reduction in value is distinguishable.
    • to make strange, remove. Sabb. 82ᵇ (ref. to תזרם, Is. XXX, 22) נַכְּרִינְהוּ מינך כַּוָּר (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) remove them from thee like a strange (disgusting) thing. e.g. Isaiah 30:22

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 45 distinct written forms H5234 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.

Form Parsing Example Uses
הִכִּ֔ירוּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 2 Samuel 3:36 2
הַֽכֵּר Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Proverbs 24:23 2
הַכֶּר Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 37:32 2
וַ/יַּכֵּ֤ר Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Kings 20:41 2
יַכִּירֶ֖/נּוּ Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 7:10 2
אַכִּ֞יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Jeremiah 24:5 1
אַכִּ֬יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Job 4:16 1
הִכִּ֔יר Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 33:9 1
הִכִּ֥ירוּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Job 24:13 1
הִכִּיר֔/וֹ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 27:23 1
הִכִּירֻ֔/הוּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Job 2:12 1
הִכִּרֻֽ/הוּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Genesis 42:8 1
הַֽכֶּר Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 31:32 1
הכיר Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Daniel 11:39 1
וַ/יִּתְנַכֵּ֨ר Verb, Hithpael, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 42:7 1
וַ/יַּכִּירָ֤/הּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 37:33 1
וַ/יַּכִּרֵ֑/ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 42:7 1
וַ/יַּכִּרֵ֨/הוּ֙ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Kings 18:7 1
וַ/יַּכֵּ֣ר Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 38:26 1
וַ/יַּכֵּ֥ר Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 42:8 1
וַֽ/יְנַכְּר֞וּ Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Jeremiah 19:4 1
וָ/אַכִּ֕ירָ/ה Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Nehemiah 6:12 1
יְנַכְּר֖וּ Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Deuteronomy 32:27 1
יִנָּכֵ֣ר Verb, Niphal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 26:24 1
יִתְנַכֶּר Verb, Hithpael, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 20:11 1
יַ֝כִּ֗יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 24:17 1
יַ֭כִּיר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 34:25 1
יַכִּ֖יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Daniel 11:39 1
יַכִּ֗יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 21:17 1
יַכִּ֥יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Ruth 3:14 1
יַכִּיר֔וּ/ם Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Isaiah 61:9 1
יַכִּירָ֑/נוּ Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 63:16 1
לְ/הַכִּירֵ֔/נִי Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct Ruth 2:10 1
מִתְנַכֵּרָ֔ה Verb, Hithpael, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 14:6 1
מִתְנַכֵּרָֽה Verb, Hithpael, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 14:5 1
מַ֫כִּ֥יר Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Psalms 142:4 1
מַכִּירִ֖ים Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 13:24 1
מַכִּירִים֙ Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 3:13 1
מַכִּירֵ֖/ךְ Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ruth 2:19 1
נִכְּר֖וּ Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Lamentations 4:8 1
נִכַּ֨ר Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 23:7 1
נִכַּר Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 34:19 1
תְנַכֵּֽרוּ Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Job 21:29 1
תַכִּ֖יר Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 16:19 1
תַכִּ֨ירוּ Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Deuteronomy 1:17 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5234, 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 → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 44 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 47 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

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.

Reading settings

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