נָקִי
innocent
also: clean, free from, exempt, clear 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
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
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).
41 distinct verses where H5355 appears in the Absolute state, across 16 books. Filtered view — show all forms. 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 2 verses
- Genesis 24:41 נָקִ֖י adj Adjective ms Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don't give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.'
- Genesis 44:10 נְקִיִּֽם adj Adjective mp He said, "Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless."
Exodus 2 verses
- Exodus 21:28 נָקִֽי adj Adjective ms "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
- Exodus 23:7 וְ/נָקִ֤י conj + Adjective Adjective ms "Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.
Numbers 1 verse
Deuteronomy 6 verses
- Deuteronomy 19:10 נָקִ֔י adj Adjective ms that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be on you.
- Deuteronomy 19:13 הַ/נָּקִ֛י ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
- Deuteronomy 21:8 נָקִ֔י adj Adjective ms Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and don't allow innocent blood [to remain] in the midst of your people Israel. The blood shall be forgiven them.
- Deuteronomy 21:9 הַ/נָּקִ֖י ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms So shall you put away the innocent blood from the midst of you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh.
- Deuteronomy 24:5 נָקִ֞י adj Adjective ms When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the host, neither shall he be charged with any business: he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.
- Deuteronomy 27:25 נָקִ֑י adj Adjective ms Cursed be he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person. All the people shall say, Amen.
Joshua 3 verses
- Joshua 2:17 נְקִיִּ֣ם adj Adjective mp The men said to her, We will be guiltless of this your oath which you have made us to swear.
- Joshua 2:19 נְקִיִּ֑ם adj Adjective mp It shall be, that whoever shall go out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his head, and we shall be guiltless: and whoever shall be with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be on him.
- Joshua 2:20 נְקִיִּ֔ם adj Adjective mp But if you utter this our business, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you have made us to swear.
1 Samuel 1 verse
2 Samuel 2 verses
- 2 Samuel 3:28 נָקִ֨י adj Adjective ms Afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before Yahweh forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner:
- 2 Samuel 14:9 נָקִֽי adj Adjective ms The woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless.
1 Kings 1 verse
2 Kings 2 verses
- 2 Kings 21:16 נָקִ֜י adj Adjective ms Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 24:4 הַ/נָּקִי֙ נָקִ֑י ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms adj Adjective ms and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Yahweh would not pardon.
Job 6 verses
- Job 4:7 נָקִ֣י adj Adjective ms "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
- Job 9:23 נְקִיִּ֣ם adj Adjective mp If the scourge kills suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent.
- Job 17:8 וְ֝/נָקִ֗י conj + Adjective Adjective ms Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
- Job 22:19 וְ֝/נָקִ֗י conj + Adjective Adjective ms The righteous see it, and are glad; The innocent ridicule them,
- Job 22:30 נָקִ֑י adj Adjective ms He will even deliver him who is not innocent; Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."
- Job 27:17 נָקִ֥י adj Adjective ms He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, And the innocent shall divide the silver.
Psalms 4 verses
- Psalms 10:8 נָקִ֑י adj Adjective ms He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.
- Psalms 15:5 נָקִ֗י adj Adjective ms He who doesn't lend out his money for usury, Nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
- Psalms 94:21 נָקִ֣י adj Adjective ms They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, And condemn the innocent blood.
- Psalms 106:38 נָקִ֡י adj Adjective ms They shed innocent blood, Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.
Proverbs 2 verses
Isaiah 1 verse
Jeremiah 6 verses
- Jeremiah 2:34 נְקִיִּ֑ים adj Adjective mp Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: you did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.
- Jeremiah 7:6 נָקִ֔י adj Adjective ms if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:
- Jeremiah 19:4 נְקִיִּֽם adj Adjective mp Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they didn't know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,
- Jeremiah 22:3 נָקִ֔י adj Adjective ms Thus says Yahweh: Execute you justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.
- Jeremiah 22:17 הַ/נָּקִי֙ ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
- Jeremiah 26:15 נָקִ֗י adj Adjective ms Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on the inhabitants of it; for of a truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.
Joel 1 verse
Jonah 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.
נקי (nâqîy) is a Hebrew adjective most often rendered “innocent.” It first appears in Genesis 24:41. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 42 verses — moderately common. Beyond its headline sense, its full sense range takes in “clean”, “free from”, and “exempt”. Sharing its root, it stands alongside נקה, מנקית and נקא. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5355 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 →
- 42
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 42 distinct verses.
- 16 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 16 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #837
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 837 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 42 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Deuteronomy 6 verses 14%
- Job 6 verses 14%
- Jeremiah 6 verses 14%
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 42 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 18 verses · 43%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 13 verses · 31%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 11 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).
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†: Innocent 23×, Be guiltless 2×, Guilt of innocent 2×
- American Standard Version†: Innocent 22×, Be guiltless 2×, We shall be guiltless 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Innocent 26×, Free 2×, Guilt of shedding innocent 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Innocent 29×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5355 across 43† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 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 H5355 across 43† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 17 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 H5355 across 43† 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5355 across 47† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 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.
נקי I clean, free from, exempt
- 1. free from guilt, clean, innocent, ‖ צַדִּיק: נָקִי וְצַדִּיק Ex 23:7 (E), נָקִי innocent person Jb 4:7; 17:8; 22:19, 30; 27:17 ψ 10:8; 15:5; Pr 1:11; נקיים Jb 9:23; דם נקי innocent blood, first used in D, Dt 19:10; 27:25; 1 S 19:5; 2 K 21:16; 24:4 ψ 94:21; 106:38; Pr 6:17; Is 59:7; Je 7:6; 22:3; 26:15; דם הנקי Dt 19:13 2 K 24:4 Je 22:17; הדם הנקי Dt 21:9; דם נקיים Je 19:4; נָקִי מִדְּמֵי 2 S 3:28 (+ מֵעִם י׳); נְקִי כַפַּיִם ψ 24:4; אביונים נקיים Je 2:34. e.g. Exodus 23:7
- 2. free from punishment Ex 21:28 (E) 2 S 14:9. e.g. Exodus 21:28
- 3. free, exempt from obligations Gn 44:10 (J); from service in war Nu 32:22 (P; + מִן pers., v. מִן 2 d), Dt 24:5 1 K 15:22 (cf. Arabic نَقِىَّ and WetzstZMG xxii (1868), 129); c. מן, from oaths Gn 24:41 (J) Jos 2:17, 19, 20 (JE). e.g. Genesis 44:10
נקי II innocent
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. adj. clean, free from, exempt;—נ׳ Gn 24:41 + 31 times; cstr. נְקִי ψ 24:4; pl. נְקִיִּים Je 2:34; נְקִיִּם Gn 44:10 + 6 times;—
I. adj. innocent;—דָּם נָקִיא innocent blood Jo 4:19 Jon 1:14 (both Kt; Qr נָקִי).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from נקה (nâqâh) (H5352) — to be pure.
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.
נָקַאי
- Nacai (Lucas, v. Neub., v. Neub. Stud. Bibl. I, p. 61); נ׳ ספרא N. the scribe (or teacher). Gen. R. s. 79 שמע קליה דנ׳ ס׳ he heard N. say; Koh. R. to X, 8 קליה דינ׳ ס׳; Yalk. Gen. 133 דנקא׳; Pesik. B’shall., p. 90ᵃ דמינקי (corr. acc.).
- 2. N., one of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. Snh. 43ᵃ Ms. M. a. early eds. (v. נֵצֶר IV).
נקי
- (b. h.) [to be rubbed off, be white,] to be clean, clear (cmp. זָכָה).
- 1. to cleanse. Ex. R. s. 1 ומְנַקֶּה אותם and cleansed them (the new-born); Yalk. ib. 164; Yalk. Ez. 354; (Sot. 11ᵇ מנקיר). B. Kam. 93ᵇ פשתן ונִיקָּהוּ if he stole flax and cleansed (bleached) it; Tosef. ib. X, 2; a. e.
- 2. to clear, let go unpunished. Yoma 86ᵃ (ref. to Ex. XXXIV, 7) מנקה הוא וכ׳ he clears the repentant sinners &c. Tem. 3ᵇ. Pesik. R. s. 42 כדי לנַקּוֹת את שרה in order to clear Sarah (from suspicion); a. fr.—Part. pass. מְנוּקֶּה, pl. מְנוּקִּין clear, clean, bare. Snh. 49ᵃ מנ׳ מגזל innocent of robbery. Sot. 28ᵃ. Snh. 36ᵇ, a. e. כשם שב"ד מנ׳ בצדק … מנ׳ מכל מום as the judges must be clear (from suspicion) as to righteousness, so must they be clear of every blemish (of descent). Gitt. 86ᵃ מ׳ מכל מום free from all objectionable qualities; a. e. e.g. Exodus 34:7
- to be cleared, vindicated. Tosef. Sot. II, 3 שנ׳ ונקתה נִקְּתָה מכל פורעניות וכ׳ (v. ed. Zuck. note) the text says (Num. V, 28) ‘and she shall be cleared’, she shall be cleared (released) from all the evils which might come upon her deservedly (because she gave rise to suspicion through her conduct). Ib. שניקללה ניוולה (Var. שניקל) read: שניקתה בניוולה she is released from further visitation (being sufficiently punished) by her exposure to disgrace. Pesik. R. l. c. היאך … מִתְנַקֵּת by what severe means has Sarah been vindicated! e.g. Numbers 5:28
- to clear, remove. Kidd. 62ᵃ (ref. to הִנָּקִי, Num. V, 19) הַנְקִי כתיב it may be read hanḳi, clear thy life out of thy body (die, if thou art guilty); v. חָנַק. e.g. Numbers 5:19
נְקֵי
- [Targ. Prov. XVII, 3, v. בְּקָא.]
- to cleanse, clear. Targ. Is. I, 25.—Keth. 87ᵃ נַקִּו נפשך בשבועתא clear thyself by means of an oath. Part. pass. מְנַקֵּי. Ib. מְנַקִּית משבועתא thou art free from the obligation of an oath.
- to be cleansed. Targ. Ez. XVI, 4; v. נְקַר II.
נָּקִי I
- preced.) clean, clear; bare. Tosef. Toh. III, 8, opp. מלוכלך. Pes. 22ᵇ (ref. to Ex. XXI, 28) as one says to his neighbor יצא פלוני נ׳ מנכסיו that man went out of his possessions empty-handed; B. Kam. 41ᵃ. Ib. 41ᵇ נ׳ מחצי כופר free from paying the half-fine. Taan. 23ᵃ (ref. to Job XXII, 30) דור שלא היה נ׳ וכ׳ thou hast saved with thy prayer a generation which was not clear from sin. Y. Meg. I, 71ᶜ; Y. Ber. II, 4ᵈ top (ref. to Koh. V, 17) שמור … שתהא טהור ונ׳ guard thy foot, that thou be pure and guiltless when thou art called to the house of God; a. fr.—Erub. 62ᵇ, a. fr. קב ונ׳ only a Kab (little in quantity), but well-sifted (v. infra).—(Adv.) נְקֵי נדר, נ׳ שבועה without vow (as an oath), without oath; or: cleared by means of a vow &c. Keth. 87ᵃ.—Pl. נְקִיִּים, נְקִיִּין. Gen. R. s. 98, v. נִקָּיוֹן. Gitt. IX, 10 נְקִיֵּי הדעת the pure-minded; a. e.—Fem. נְקִיָּה, נְקִיָּיה. Nidd. 31ᵇ נ̇ק̇ב̇ה̇ נ̇ק̇ייה ב̇אה a female comes into the world poor (without the means of making a livelihood). Y. Maasr. II, 49ᵈ דעתו נ׳ his mind is clear (he is wise). Y. Ḥag. II, 77ᵇ top אין דעתן נ׳ their minds are not clear enough (for esoteric wisdom). Num. R. s. 9 כדי שתהיי נ׳ לבעליך וכ׳ in order that thou be clean for thy husband through these waters. Y. Shek. V, 48ᵈ bot. פת נ׳ bread of fine (sifted) flour; Pes. 37ᵃ, v. הַדְרָאָה. Kidd. 82ᵇ אומנות נ׳ וקלה a cleanly and easy trade; Tosef. ib. V, 15; a. fr. e.g. Exodus 21:28
נָקִי II
- (preced.) a young lamb (v. Syr. נקיא, P. Sm. 2446). Sabb. 54ᵃ; Shebu. 6ᵇ, v. כָּבַן.
נָקַי
- , v. נָקַאי
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 26 distinct written forms H5355 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 H5355, 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 39 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 42 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 24:41
- Exodus 21:28
- Numbers 32:22
- Deuteronomy 19:10
- Joshua 2:17
- 1 Samuel 19:5
- 2 Samuel 3:28
- 1 Kings 15:22
- 2 Kings 21:16
- Job 4:7
- Psalms 15:5
- Proverbs 1:11
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.
