נֵכָר
foreign
also: alien, foreignness fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 35 times (97%)
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 1 time (3%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 36 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H5236 appears — 35 distinct verses across 16 books. 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.
Genesis 4 verses
- Genesis 17:12 נֵכָ֔ר n c ms He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner who is not of your seed.
- Genesis 17:27 נֵכָ֑ר n c ms All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
- Genesis 35:2 הַ/נֵּכָר֙ ptcl def.art + n c ms Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments.
- Genesis 35:4 הַ/נֵּכָר֙ ptcl def.art + n c ms They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Exodus 1 verse
Leviticus 1 verse
Deuteronomy 2 verses
- Deuteronomy 31:16 נֵֽכַר n c ms cs Yahweh said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
- Deuteronomy 32:12 נֵכָֽר n c ms Yahweh alone did lead him, There was no foreign god with him.
Joshua 2 verses
- Joshua 24:20 נֵכָ֑ר n c ms If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after that he has done you good.
- Joshua 24:23 הַ/נֵּכָ֖ר ptcl def.art + n c ms Now therefore put away, [said he], the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
Judges 1 verse
1 Samuel 1 verse
2 Samuel 2 verses
2 Chronicles 2 verses
- 2 Chronicles 14:3 הַ/נֵּכָ֖ר ptcl def.art + n c ms for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim,
- 2 Chronicles 33:15 הַ/נֵּכָ֤ר ptcl def.art + n c ms He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of Yahweh, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
Nehemiah 2 verses
- Nehemiah 9:2 נֵכָ֑ר n c ms The seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
- Nehemiah 13:30 נֵכָ֑ר n c ms Thus cleansed I them from all foreigners, and appointed charges for the priests and for the Levites, everyone in his work;
Psalms 6 verses
- Psalms 18:44 נֵ֝כָ֗ר n c ms As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.
- Psalms 18:45 נֵכָ֥ר n c ms The foreigners shall fade away, And shall come trembling out of their close places.
- Psalms 81:9 נֵכָֽר n c ms There shall be no strange god in you, Neither shall you worship any foreign god.
- Psalms 137:4 נֵכָֽר n c ms How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?
- Psalms 144:7 נֵכָֽר n c ms Stretch out your hand from above, Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hands of foreigners;
- Psalms 144:11 נֵ֫כָ֥ר n c ms Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, Whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Isaiah 5 verses
- Isaiah 56:3 הַ/נֵּכָ֗ר ptcl def.art + n c ms Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, Yahweh will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
- Isaiah 56:6 הַ/נֵּכָ֗ר ptcl def.art + n c ms Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;
- Isaiah 60:10 נֵכָר֙ n c ms Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.
- Isaiah 61:5 נֵכָ֔ר n c ms Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vine-dressers.
- Isaiah 62:8 נֵכָר֙ n c ms Yahweh has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored:
Jeremiah 2 verses
- Jeremiah 5:19 נֵכָר֙ n c ms It shall happen, when you shall say, Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us? then shall you say to them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
- Jeremiah 8:19 נֵכָֽר n c ms Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: isn't Yahweh in Zion? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?
Ezekiel 2 verses
- Ezekiel 44:7 נֵכָ֗ר n c ms in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, [to add] to all your abominations.
- Ezekiel 44:9 נֵכָ֗ר נֵכָ֔ר n c ms n c ms Thus says the Lord Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
Daniel 1 verse
Malachi 1 verse
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.
נכר (nêkâr) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “foreign.” Its English rendering has broadened — “strange” classically, “foreign” (Berean Standard Bible) and “foreigner” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 35 verses — moderately common. It first appears in Genesis 17:12. Beyond its headline sense, its full sense range takes in “alien” and “foreignness”. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5236 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 →
- 35
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 35 distinct verses.
- 16 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 16 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #990
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 990 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 35 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 35 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 16 verses · 46%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 31%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 8 verses · 23%
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: Strange 13×, Stranger 3×, Strangers 2×
- American Standard Version: Foreign 8×, Foreigner 2×, Foreigners 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Foreign 15×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Foreigner 17×, Foreign 9×, Foreignness 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5236 across 25 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 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 10 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5236 across 23 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 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 H5236 across 19 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 17 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5236 across 37 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
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 3 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.
- 1. אֱלֹהֵי (הַ)נֵּכָר = foreign gods Gn 35:2, 4; Jos 24:20, 23 (all E, = א׳ אֲחֵרִים of D, cf. אַחֵר), Ju 10:16; 1 S 7:3; Je 5:19; 2 Ch 33:15; א׳ נֵכַר־הָאָרֶץ Dt 31:16 = foreign gods of the land; sg. אֵל נֵכָר Dt 32:12; Mal 2:11 ψ 81:10; אֱלוֹהַּ נ׳ Dn 11:39. e.g. Genesis 35:2
- 2. בֶּן־(הַ)נֵּכָר = foreigner Gn 17:12 (‖ לֹא מִזַּרְעֲךָ), v 27 Ex 12:43 (all P), Lv 22:25 (H), Ez 44:9(×2) Ne 9:2; Is 56:3; בְּנֵי (ה)נ׳ 2 S 22:45, 46 = ψ 18:45, 46, Ez 44:7; Is 56:6; 60:10; 61:5; 62:8 ψ 144:7, 11. e.g. Genesis 17:12
- 3. other combin.: הַבְלֵי נ׳ Je 8:19 foreign vanities (idolatries); מִזְבְּחוֹת הַנּ׳ 2 Ch 14:2 foreign altars; אַדְמַת נ׳ ψ 137:4 foreign soil; מִכָּל־נ׳ Ne 13:30 from everything foreign. e.g. Jeremiah 8:19
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
n.[m.] that which is foreign, foreignness (on format. cf. LagBN 51, 154);—abs. נ׳ Ju 10:16 +, cstr. נֵכַר־ Dt 31:16;—foreignness (of another family, tribe, or nation), especially
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from נכר (nâkar) (H5234) — to know.
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 15 distinct written forms H5236 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’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 H5236, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
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 30 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 35 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 17:12
- Exodus 12:43
- Leviticus 22:25
- Deuteronomy 31:16
- Joshua 24:20
- Judges 10:16
- 1 Samuel 7:3
- 2 Samuel 22:45
- 2 Chronicles 14:3
- Psalms 137:4
- Isaiah 56:3
- Jeremiah 5:19
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.
