נְפַל
to fall
‘to fall’ is one of 2 main senses 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”).
Form
- 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”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
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”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 4 times (33%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural 2 times (17%)
- Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (17%)
- Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 2 times (17%)
- Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Plural 1 time (8%)
- Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 time (8%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 12 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H5308 appears — 11 distinct verses across 2 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.
Ezra 1 verse
Daniel 10 verses
- Daniel 2:46 נְפַ֣ל Qal pf 3ms Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an offering and sweet odors to him.
- Daniel 3:5 תִּפְּל֤וּן Qal impf 2mp that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up;
- Daniel 3:6 יִפֵּ֖ל Qal impf 3ms and whoever doesn't fall down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
- Daniel 3:7 נָֽפְלִ֨ין Qal ptcp.act mp Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
- Daniel 3:10 יִפֵּ֥ל Qal impf 3ms You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image;
- Daniel 3:11 יִפֵּ֖ל Qal impf 3ms and whoever doesn't fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
- Daniel 3:15 תִּפְּל֣וּן Qal impf 2mp Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to you fall down and worship the image which I have made, [well]: but if you don't worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
- Daniel 3:23 נְפַ֛לוּ Qal pf 3mp These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
- Daniel 4:31 נְפַ֑ל Qal pf 3ms While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from the sky, [saying], O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from you:
- Daniel 7:20 ו/נפלו וּ/נְפַ֥לָה conj + Qal pf 3mp conj + Qal pf 3fp and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other [horn] which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows.
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.
נפל (nᵉphal) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to fall.” It clusters heavily in Daniel, which alone accounts for 91% of its uses. With 11 verses in 2 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Ezra 7:20, it then recurs through the corpus. Its lexical range runs to 2 senses. 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 H5308 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 →
- 11
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 11 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,101
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,101 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 11 occurrences in the concordance →
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 11 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 100%
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: Fell 3×, Down 2×, Falleth 2×
- American Standard Version: Fell 3×, Down 2×, Falleth 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Fall down 3×, Fell 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Fall down 3×, Fell 3×, Does 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5308 across 13 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H5308 across 13 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H5308 across 11 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 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 H5308 across 14 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.
Senses in BDB
The 2 senses BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- to fall
(Peal)
- to fall down
Word origin
Derived from נפל (nâphal) (H5307) — to fall.
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.
נָפַל
- (b. h.) to fall, lie down; to be dropped; to occur. Sabb. XVI, 2 נָפְלָה דליקה if a conflagration takes place. Pes. II, 3, v. מַפּוֹלֶת. Y. Sot. VII, 21ᵈ top (ref. to יקים, Deut. XXVII, 26) וכי יש תורה נוֹפֶלֶת is there a falling law (to need erection)? Ned. 65ᵇ כל הנוֹפֵל אינו נופל לידי וכ׳ he who falls (becomes poor) does not immediately fall into the hands of (become dependent on) the charities (but his friends support him for a time). B. Kam. IX, 11, a. fr. יִפְּלוּ דמיו לנדבה its equivalent must be surrendered as a donation to the Temple. B. Bath. IX, 4 האחין … שנ׳ אחד מהן לאומנות נ׳ לאמצע if one of two partner brothers (heirs) has been summoned to public service, his salary goes into the common fund. Y. Shek. V, 49ᵇ top בשביל ששמעתי שנפלה לך ירושה וכ׳ since I heard that an inheritance has fallen to thy share at a distant place, take (this as a loan) &c.; a. v. fr.—Imperat. פּוֹל. Tosef. Dem. VI, 4 ופול תחתיי וכ׳ (Var. טול, some ed. עול) and surrender thyself to public service in my place (v. supra). e.g. Deuteronomy 27:26
- to cause to fall; to throw down. Gen. R. s. 26, v. נָפִיל. B. Kam. III, 10 ה׳ את שינו struck out his tooth; Tosef. ib. IX, 23; a. fr.—Esp. to miscarry. Nidd. III, 1 המַפֶּלֶת וכ׳ if a woman loses a lump-shaped embryo; a. fr.
- to prostrate one’s self. Deut. R. s. 2, v. נִיפּוּל.
- (denom. of נִיפּוּל) to fall apart, be spoiled. Tosef. Sabb. VI (VII), 14 שלא תִינָּפֵל הפת, v. צָוַוח.
נְפַל
- Targ. II Sam. I, 4. Targ. Koh. XI, 3 למִנְפַּל; a. v. fr.—Imperat. פִּיל. Targ. Is. L, 11.—Part. נָפֵיל, part. pass. נְפִיל. Targ. Prov. XI, 5 (ed. Wil. נְפַל). Targ. Ps. CXLV, 14; a. e.—Ḥull. 51ᵃ אי נְפוּל לארעא if they were thrown down (violently). Ib.ᵇ, v. נְגִיחוּתָא. Ned. 65ᵇ כל דמעני לאו עלי נפיל not every one that becomes poor, falls on me (for support). B. Mets. 105ᵃ בזרא דנ׳ נ׳ a seed (of weeds) once fallen, has fallen (cannot be destroyed by the plough). Meg. 15ᵇ נַפְלָה ליה מילתא בדעתיה something (a suspicion) had entered his mind; a. fr.
- , as preced. Hif. Targ. Ps. LXXVIII, 28. Targ. Y. Ex. XXI, 22; a. fr.—Ḥull. 42ᵃ top אַפּוּלֵי אפיל (read אַפְּלָא) she may have miscarried. Snh. 109ᵇ ומַפְּלָא ליה and she miscarried through his fault; a. fr.
- to be upset, fall in. M. Kat. 2ᵃ דאתי לאִינְּפוּלֵי a caving in (of the ground through which the water makes a road) might occur; ib.ᵇ; a. e.
נָפִל
- , v. נָפִיל
נֵפֶל
- (preced. wds.)
- 1. capacity for seed, v. נְפִילָה.
- 2. (b. h.) abortion; premature, not viable birth. Tosef. Ohol. XVI, 13; Pes. 9ᵃ, a. e.—Y. Yeb. XI, end, 12ᵇ אינו נ׳ is not considered a non-viable birth (for legal purposes); a. v. fr.—Pl. נְפָלִים. Gen. R. s. 26 (play on הַנְּפִלִים, Gen. VI, 4) שמלאו את העולם נ׳ וכ׳ they filled the world with abortions by their lascivious life. Tosef. l. c.; a. fr. e.g. Genesis 6:4
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 11 distinct written forms H5308 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| יִפֵּ֖ל | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Daniel 3:6 | 2 |
| ו/נפלו | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Daniel 7:20 | 1 |
| וּ/נְפַ֥לָה | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Plural | Daniel 7:20 | 1 |
| יִפֵּ֥ל | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Daniel 3:10 | 1 |
| יִפֶּל | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Ezra 7:20 | 1 |
| נְפַ֑ל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Daniel 4:31 | 1 |
| נְפַ֛לוּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Daniel 3:23 | 1 |
| נְפַ֣ל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Daniel 2:46 | 1 |
| נָֽפְלִ֨ין | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Daniel 3:7 | 1 |
| תִּפְּל֣וּן | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Daniel 3:15 | 1 |
| תִּפְּל֤וּן | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Daniel 3:5 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5308, 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
- מפל mappâl H4651 refuse
- מפלה mappâlâh H4654 ruin
- מפלת mappeleth H4658 carcass
- נפיל nᵉphîyl H5303 giants
- נפל nephel H5309 miscarriage
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 7 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 10 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 11 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.
