נַ֫עַר
boy
also: lad, servant, youth, retainer 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.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H5288 appears in the Book of Genesis — 24 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.
Genesis
- Genesis 14:24 הַ/נְּעָרִ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp Except only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre: let them take their portion."
- Genesis 18:7 הַ/נַּ֔עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.
- Genesis 19:4 מִ/נַּ֖עַר prep + n c ms But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
- Genesis 21:12 הַ/נַּ֣עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called.
- Genesis 21:17 הַ/נַּעַר֒ הַ/נַּ֖עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
- Genesis 21:18 הַ/נַּ֔עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."
- Genesis 21:19 הַ/נָּֽעַר ptcl def.art + n c ms God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.
- Genesis 21:20 הַ/נַּ֖עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
- Genesis 22:3 נְעָרָי/ו֙ n c mp cs + sfx pers 3ms Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.
- Genesis 22:5 נְעָרָ֗י/ו וְ/הַ/נַּ֔עַר n c mp cs + sfx pers 3ms conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you.
- Genesis 22:12 הַ/נַּ֔עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
- Genesis 22:19 נְעָרָ֔י/ו n c mp cs + sfx pers 3ms So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.
- Genesis 25:27 הַ/נְּעָרִ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
- Genesis 34:19 הַ/נַּ֨עַר֙ ptcl def.art + n c ms The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.
- Genesis 37:2 נַ֗עַר n c ms This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.
- Genesis 41:12 נַ֣עַר n c ms There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he interpreted.
- Genesis 43:8 הַ/נַּ֛עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.
- Genesis 44:22 הַ/נַּ֖עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
- Genesis 44:30 וְ/הַ/נַּ֖עַר conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy's life;
- Genesis 44:31 הַ/נַּ֖עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.
- Genesis 44:32 הַ/נַּ֔עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I don't bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.'
- Genesis 44:33 הַ/נַּ֔עַר וְ/הַ/נַּ֖עַר ptcl def.art + n c ms conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.
- Genesis 44:34 וְ/הַ/נַּ֖עַר conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn't with me? Lest I see the evil that will come on my father."
- Genesis 48:16 הַ/נְּעָרִים֒ ptcl def.art + n c mp the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
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 noun נער centers on the idea of “boy.” The King James Version usually renders it “young men,” while modern versions prefer “boy” (Berean Standard Bible) and “young man” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) — see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 221 verses in 24 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 14:24, it then recurs through the corpus. Alongside “boy” the lexicon also lists “lad”, “servant”, and “youth” — part of its full sense range. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5288 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 →
- 221
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 221 distinct verses.
- 24 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 24 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #198
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 198 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 221 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 221 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 148 verses · 67%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 42 verses · 19%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 31 verses · 14%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Young men 36×, Child 32×, Servant 31×
- American Standard Version†: Young men 32×, Child 31×, Servant 25×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Boy 45×, Servant 25×, Young men 25×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Young man 57×, Boy 44×, Young men 38×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5288 across 238† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 45 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 H5288 across 239† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 69 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 H5288 across 226† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 29 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 13 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5288 across 253† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 20 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
10 senses and sub-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 10 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.
נער I [m.] usually interpr. as a shaking, scattering, abst. for concr. = scattered ones, only Zc 11
נער II 1. boy, lad, youth. 2. retainer (not in P) (NH as BH
- 1. boy, lad, youth (c. 133 times)
- a. of infant Ex 2:6 (E; 3 months old), to be born Ju 13:5, 7, 8, 12, just born 1 S 4:21, not weaned 1 S 1:22; also Is 8:4, cf. 7:16 +. e.g. Exodus 2:6
- b. of lad just weaned 1 S 1:24 (del. 2nd נער, cf. further Dr Bu HPS), v 25, 27, etc. e.g. 1 Samuel 1:24
- c. = youth: of young Ishmael Gn 21:12f. (E), Isaac 22:5, 12 (E), Joseph Gn 37:2 (E; 17 years old,), Benj. 43:8; 44:22f. (J), sons of Samuel 1 S 2:17, of Jesse 1 S 16:11; נ׳ קָטֹן little lad 1 S 20:35; 1 K 3:7; 2 K 5:14; Is 11:6, נ׳ קָטָן 1 K 11:17, pl. 2 K 2:23. e.g. Genesis 21:12
- d. נ׳ with special stress on youthfulness Ju 8:20; 1 S 17:33, 42; Ho 11:1 Is 3:4 cf. Ec 10:16; Is 3:5; 10:19; Je 1:6, 7; 1 Ch 22:5; 29:1; 2 Ch 13:7; 34:3; so in phr. מִנּ׳ וְעַד זָקֵן Gn 19:4 (J), Jos 6:21 (J), Est 3:13 cf. Ex 10:9 (E), Dt 28:50; Is 20:4; 65:20; Je 51:22; La 2:21 ψ 37:25; 148:12; Pr 22:6. e.g. Judges 8:20
- e. of marriageable age Gn 34:19 (J), warrior Absalom 2 S 18:5, 12 +, Zadok 1 Ch 12:29, etc. e.g. Genesis 34:19
- 2. servant, retainer (c. 105 times):
- a. = personal attendant, household servant, Nu 22:22 (J), Ju 7:10, 11; 19:3; 1 S 9:3f. 2 K 4:12, 25 + often e.g. Numbers 22:22
- b. = retainer, follower Gn 14:24; 1 S 25:5f.; 2 S 2:14f.; 1 K 20:14f.; 2 K 19:6 = Is 37:6, Jb 1:15, 16, 17; Ne 4:10, 17 + often—Zc 11:16 is corrupt, cf. We Now.— e.g. Genesis 14:24
- נער occurs in Pent. as Kt with Qr perpet. נַעֲרָה q.v.
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
I. n.[m.] usually interpr. as a shaking, scattering, abst. for concr. = scattered ones, only Zc 11:16, but text corrupt, v. We Now.
II. n.m. 1. boy, lad, youth. 2. retainer (not in P) (NH as BH; Ph. נער Lzb 324);—נ׳ abs. Gn 37:2 +; cstr. 1 S 2:13 +; sf. נַעֲרוֹ Ju 19:3 +, נַעֲרָהּ 2 K 4:24; pl. נְעָרִים 1 S 25:5 +, cstr. נַעֲרֵי Ex 24:5 +; sf. נְעָרַי Ne 4:10; 5:10, etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from נער (nâʻar) (H5287) — to shake.
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.
נָעַר I
- cmp. next w.) [to be excited, noisy,] esp. (of the ass) to bray. Ber. 3ᵃ. Ib. 56ᵃ (in Chald. dict.) דקאי אאיסדן ונוֹעֵר standing at the head of the bed and braying. B. Kam. 18ᵇ; Kidd. 24ᵇ; a. e.—[Cant. R. to IV, 8 בתחלה הוא נוער, read: נֵעוֹר, v. עוּר.]
נָעַר II
- to shake, stir. Makhsh. I, 4 הנוֹעֵר אגודה וכ׳ he who shakes (the rain off) a bundle of vegetables. Ib. V, 7. Pesik. R. s. 26 לאיוב נָעַרְתִּי מן האשפה וכ׳ I shook Job (making him rise) from the dunghill, and concerning thee (Israel) it is written (Is. LII, 2), shake thyself &c.; a. e. e.g. Isaiah 52:2
- 1. to shake. Pesik. Shek., p. 17ᵃ נַעֲרָהּ קפלה shake it (the garment), fold it; Lev. R. s. 2. B. Mets. II, 8 מצא כסות מְנַעֲרָהּ וכ׳ if one found a garment (and holds it in charge waiting for the owner to claim it), he must shake it once in thirty days. Sabb. 147ᵃ top; a. fr.
- 2. to stir. Ḥull. VIII, 3 נ׳ את הקדרה if he stirred (the meat in) the pot. Y. Ab. Zar. I, 39ᵈ top שמא נ׳ הגוי בקדרה the gentile might have stirred the pot; a. fr.
- 3. to empty; to cause evacuation. Toh. II, 1 מְנָעֶרֶת את הקדרה she may empty (or stir) the dish. Kel. XXVIII, 2 לנָעֵר בו וכ׳ used for (lifting and) emptying the pot. Tosef. Kel. B. Mets. II, 10 שהחנוני מְנָעֵר וכ׳ which the shop-keeper uses when pouring out &c. (or through which he pours for straining), v. יַתִּיךְ; a. e.—נ׳ את הצאן to use means by which to expedite the discharge of excrements of the flock on the spot to be manured (v. דּוּר I, Pi.). Tosef. Shebi. II, 20; M. Kat. 12ᵃ; Y. Shebi. III, 34ᶜ bot. Ib. השוכר … לנַעֲרָהּ he who hires a flock (for manuring) is forbidden to use means &c.; expl. ib. מוליכה ממקום וכ׳ by driving it from place to place.—Part. pass. מְנוֹעָר; f. מְנוֹעֶרֶת; pl. מְנוֹעָרִים, מְנוֹעָרִין: מְנוֹעָרוֹת empty, vacant. Y. Ber. IV, 7ᵇ bot. (play on שִׁנְ֗עָ֗ר̇) שחם מנ׳ מן המצות וכ׳ they (the Babylonians) are vacant of (cannot perform) certain religious observances &c.; Koh. R. to XII, 7; Gen. R. s. 37 שהיא מנ׳ וכ׳ she (Babylonia) is deprived &c. Ḥag. 14ᵃ (play on נערים, Is. III, 4) אלו בני אדם שמנ׳ וכ׳ that means persons empty of good deeds, opp. ממולא; Yalk. Is. 261.—[B. Bath. 74ᵇ ור"י נוער some ed., v. עוּר I.—Ḥull. 51ᵇ ניערה, v. infra.] e.g. Isaiah 3:4
- 1. to be stirred up; to bestir one’s self. B. Bath. 74ᵇ וני׳ ר׳'א and R. El. was stirred up (awoke). Sot. 5ᵃ אין עפרו נ׳ his dust will not be stirred up (for resurrection). Ex. R. s. 1 (play on חלאה ונערה, I Chr. IV, 5) חלתה ונִנְעֲרָה מחליה וכ׳ she (Miriam) was sick, but she bestirred herself (arose) from her sickness, and the Lord restored her to youth. Y. Ber. III, 6ᵈ top (play on מנעריו, Gen. VIII, 21) משעה שהוא נ׳ ויוצא וכ׳ from the moment the embryo bestirs itself to come out into the world; Gen. R. s. 34; Yalk. ib. 61. Ḥull. 51ᵇ ננערה לעמוד וכ׳ Rashi (ed. נִיעֲרָה) if the animal made an effort to get up, although it did not succeed; a. e. e.g. 1 Chronicles 4:5
- 2. (of flax) to be hatcheled. Y. Sabb. II, beg. 4ᶜ (expl. חוסן, ib. II, 1) פשתן שלא ננערה flax which has not yet been hatcheled.
- 3. to be emptied, poured out. Y. Ber. l. c. (play on שנער) ששם נִנְעֲרוּ וכ׳ for into that valley the dead of the generation of the flood were dumped; Gen. R. s. 37; Koh. R. l. c.—Snh. 92ᵃ קשתו נִינְעֶרֶת his bow will be empty (his sexual vitality broken).
- to stir up, to keep awake. Erub. 53ᵇ (play on נערה &c., v. אַהֲרוֹנִית) והִנְעִירָתוֹ and she kept him awake.
- to be emptied; trnsf. to be displaced. Zeb. 116ᵃ (ref. to Cant. IV, 16) תִּתְנַעֵר אומה … ותבא וכ׳ (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) removed be the (Roman) nation whose sacrifices are slaughtered northward (Lev. I, 11, which is entitled only to burnt-offerings), and let the nation enter &c. e.g. Song of Solomon 4:16
נְעַר
- , to shake, stir.—Part. pass. נְעִיר waking. Targ. Job XXI, 32 (Ms. נָעִיר; ed. Wil. יְעִיר, v. עוּר).
- to shake; to empty. Yalk. Zech. 570; Cant. R. to IV, 8 (ref. to Zech. II, 17) דמְנַעֲרָה וכ׳ (דמְנַעֲרָא), v. גֵּו ch.; Gen. R. s. 75. Sabb. 142ᵃ ולִינַעֲרִינְהוּ נַעוּרֵי let him shake the fruit out of the basket. e.g. Zechariah 2:17
נַעַר
- preced., tender, young; lad. Tanḥ. Ḥayé 1 שיתכבד הזקן בַּנַּ׳ that the old may be honored by the young. Ex. R. s. 1 ילד היה ומנהגו כנ׳ he was a child, but his behavior was like that of a lad; a. fr.—Pl. נְעָרִים. Yoma 75ᵇ לנ׳ לחם וכ׳ the manna was bread to the young, oil to the old &c. Tanḥ. Sh’mini 11 אם נ׳ הם וכ׳ if they (the elders) are young &c., v. קָפַץ. Ib. הבחורים והנ׳ the young men and the lads. Sot. 46ᵇ נ׳ היו ובזבזו וכ׳ they were young men, but behaved contemptibly like children; a. fr.—Fem. נַעֲרָה lass, maid, esp. (law) a girl between twelve and twelve and a half years of age, v. בַּגְרוּת. Esth. R. to V, 1; a. fr.—Keth. III, 8, contrad. to בוגרת a. קטנה. Ib. IV, 1; a. fr.—Pl. נְעָרוֹת, constr. נַעֲרוֹת. Ib. III, 1 (29ᵃ). Esth. R. l. c. שתי נַעֲרוֹתֶיהָ her two maids; a. fr.
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 119 distinct written forms H5288 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 59 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5288, 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
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- נערי Naʻăray H5293 Naarai
- נעריה Nᵉʻaryâh H5294 Neariah
- נערן Naʻărân H5295 Naaran
- ענר ʻÂnêr H6063 Aner
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 11 — not the complete family. 4 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 206 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 221 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 14:24
- Exodus 2:6
- Numbers 11:27
- Deuteronomy 28:50
- Joshua 6:21
- Judges 7:10
- Ruth 2:5
- 1 Samuel 1:22
- 2 Samuel 1:5
- 1 Kings 3:7
- 2 Kings 2:23
- 1 Chronicles 12:28
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.
