נָתַץ
to tear down
‘to tear down’ is one of 5 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”). Here: ‘lit. pull down a structure’
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem.
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”). Here: ‘be pulled’
- Hophal
- The passive counterpart of the Hiphil (“he was caused to…”).
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel. Here: ‘be torn down’
Form
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
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”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H5422 appears in the Book of Nahum — 1 distinct verse. 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.
Nahum
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.
“to tear down” is the headline sense of the Hebrew verb נתץ (nâthats). Older and newer Bibles part ways — “brake down” in the King James Version, “tear down” (Berean Standard Bible) and “he tore down” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions. See the renderings breakdown. It turns up in 41 verses across 12 books, a moderately common footprint. Its earliest occurrence is Exodus 34:13. The verb spans 5 stems, from Qal to Niphal. See the sense tree, 41-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5422 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 →
- 41
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 41 distinct verses.
- 12 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 12 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #864
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 864 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 41 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 41 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 27 verses · 66%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 9 verses · 22%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 5 verses · 12%
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: Brake down 6×, Are thrown down 2×, Brake it down 2×
- American Standard Version: Brake down 6×, Break down 5×, He brake down 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Tear down 7×, Broke down 3×, He tore down 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: He tore down 8×, They tore down 4×, You shall break down 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5422 across 42 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 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 H5422 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 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 H5422 across 42 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 24 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 H5422 across 40 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 21 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
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 Pual (the passive of Piel) and Hophal (the passive of Hiphil).
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.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. נ׳ Ju 6:30 +, 3 pl. נָֽתְצוּ 2 K 25:10; Je 52:14, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִתֹּץ Ez 26:9 + v 12 (Co, for MT יִתְּצוּ); וַיִּתֹּץ Ju 9:45; 2 K 23:7; sf. יִתְּצֵנִי Jb 19:10, יִתָּצְךָ ψ 52:7; 1 s. אֶתֹּץ Ju 8:9; 3 mpl. וַיִּתְּצוּ 2 K 10:27(×2); 2 mpl. תִּתֹּ֑צוּ Dt 7:5 תִּתֹּצ֑וּן Ex 34:13 Ju 2:2; וַתִּתְֿצוּ Is 22:2, etc.; Imv. נְתֹץ ψ 58:7; Inf. cstr. לִנְתֿוֹץ Je 1:10; 18:7, לִנְתֹֿץ 31:28 (on תֿ v. Ges§ 45 g); Pt. pass. pl. הַנְּתֻצִים Je 33:4;— e.g. Judges 6:30
- 1. lit. pull down a structure (acc.): altar Ju 2:2; 6:30, 31, 32; Ex 34:13 (J), Dt 7:5; 2 K 23:12; high place (במה) v 8, בָּמָה + מִזְבֵּחַ v 15; מַצֵּבָה 10:27; בֵּית הַבַּעַל v 27; 11:18 = 2 Ch 23:17, cf. 2 K 23:7; a tower Ju 8:9, 17, cf. Ez 26:9 (בְּחַרְבוֹתָיו); (any) house Is 22:10; Ez 26:12; Lv 14:45, so הַנְּתֻצִים Je 33:4 (strangely + אֶל, cf. Gf Gie); city-wall Je 39:8; 2 K 25:10 = Je 52:14; city Ju 9:45. e.g. Judges 2:2
- 2. fig.:
- a. pull down a nation, break its power, וְלִנְתוֹשׁ וְלִנ׳ וּלְהַאֲבִיד (וְלַהֲרוֹם) (obj. not expressed) Je 1:10 (so Ecclus 49:7b), = 18:7. cf. 31:28. e.g. Jeremiah 1:10
- b. an individual, subj. God, יִתְּצֵנִי סָבִיב Jb 19:10, יִתָּצְךָ ψ 52:7. e.g. Job 19:10
- c. jawteeth of lions (metaph.) ψ 58:7 (break down, break off, so only here, but v. נָתַע). e.g. Psalms 58:7
Niphal
- be pulled, broken, down: Pf. 3 pl. נִתְּצוּ מִפְּנֵי י׳ Je 4:26 (of cities), so נ׳ מִמֶּנּוּ Na 1:6 (of rocks). e.g. Jeremiah 4:26
Piel
- Pf. 3 ms. נִתַּץ 2 Ch 33:3; 3 pl. וְנִתְּצוּ Ez 16:39 (consec.); 2 mpl. וְנִתַּצְתֶּם Dt 12:3; Impf. 3 ms. וַיְנַתֵּץ 2 Ch 34:7; 3 mpl. וַיְנַתְּצוּ 31:1 + 2 times;—tear down (chiefly late): c. acc. altars Dt 12:3, + בָּמוֹת 2 Ch 31:1, + הַחַמָּנִים, etc., 34:4, + אֲשֵׁרִים v 7; בָּמוֹת alone 33:3, רָמֹתַיִךְ Ez 16:39; city wall 2 Ch 36:19. e.g. 2 Chronicles 33:3
Pual
- be torn down: Pf. 3 ms. נֻתַּץ Ju 6:28 (of altar + אֲשֵׁרָה). e.g. Judges 6:28
Hophal
- (or Qal pass. Ges§ 53 u) be broken down, broken, only Impf. 3 ms. יֻתָּ֑ץ Lv 11:35 (of תַּנּוּר, v. Dr-WhiteHpt, and כִּירַיִם, v. supr., p. 468 b). e.g. Leviticus 11:35
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. pull down, break down (NH Hoph., and deriv.; cf. perhaps Ethiopic ነሠተ (with transp. and weakening of sibilant), destruere, demoliri, excidere Di 634);—
— 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
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.
נָתַץ
- (b. h.) to chip off; to tear down. Neg. XIII, 2 בזמן שהוא נוֹתֵץ נותץ את שלו when he has to tear down (Lev. XIV, 45), he must chip off his part of the house, contrad. to חָלַץ; Tosef. ib. VI, 10. Ib. בנתיצה נותץ את וכ׳ (not נותן) when he has to tear down, he must chop those stones which are affected as well as those which are not; a. fr. e.g. Leviticus 14:45
- to be torn down. Ab. Zar. 53ᵇ עד שיִנָּתֵץ רובו until the largest part of it is torn down; Tosef. ib. V (VI), 8 שינתן (corr. acc.). Neg. XIII, 1; a. fr.
- same. Ab. Zar. III, 9 אם חדש יוּתַּץ if the oven was new, it must be taken apart; Pes. 26ᵇ; 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 36 distinct written forms H5422 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5422, 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 → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 41 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 41 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
- Exodus 34:13
- Leviticus 11:35
- Deuteronomy 7:5
- Judges 2:2
- 2 Kings 10:27
- 2 Chronicles 23:17
- Job 19:10
- Psalms 52:5
- Isaiah 22:10
- Jeremiah 1:10
- Ezekiel 16:39
- Nahum 1:6
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.
