Hebrew word · H3363

יָקַע

vateka'

to dislocate|hang

The basic meaning is to be dislocated or wrenched out of joint (Gen 32:25, Jacob's hip). In the causative form it is used for a gruesome execution or exposure of bodies, probably involving broken or impaled limbs (Num 25:4; 2 Sam 21:6, 9, 13).

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be dislocated, be alienated

1a) (Qal) to be dislocated, be torn away, be alienated

1b) (Hiphil)

1b1) to execute slowly (by exposure or impalation)

1b2) to hang

1c) (Hophal) to be executed

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jeremiah 6:8

Range of meaning

The basic meaning is to be dislocated or wrenched out of joint (Gen 32:25, Jacob's hip). In the causative form it is used for a gruesome execution or exposure of bodies, probably involving broken or impaled limbs (Num 25:4; 2 Sam 21:6, 9, 13). With nepheš as the subject it means to be torn away from someone in revulsion: estrangement.

Against the English

KJV 'depart', BSB/NIV 'turn away' and NASB/WEB/YLT 'be alienated' all describe a separation, but they lose the physical picture of something ripped out of its socket. ESV and NLT add 'in disgust', which gets the emotion from the parallel in Ezekiel 23 but still not the bodily image.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest parallel is Ezek 23:17–18. Oholibah (Jerusalem) turns away from her lovers in disgust (wattēqaʿ napšāh), and then 'my nepheš was wrenched from her, as my nepheš had been wrenched from her sister' (wattēqaʿ napšî mēʿālêhā). That is a marriage-breakdown text, using the same subject, verb and preposition pattern. Ezek 23:22 and 28 use the related root nāqaʿ in the same sense.

From the study of 2 Samuel 21:6

Range of meaning

A rare verb. The plain stem (Qal) appears in Gen 32:25 [Eng. 32:25–26], where Jacob's hip 'was dislocated' or 'wrenched', and figuratively for the soul being 'torn away' or 'alienated' (Jer 6:8; Ezek 23:17–18). The causative stem used here (Hiphil) is a form of execution, found only in Num 25:4 ('expose them to the LORD before the sun') and 2 Sam 21:6, 9, 13. Lexicons offer: hang, impale, expose with limbs broken or dislocated, or throw down from a height (BDB; HALOT notes the uncertainty).

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB, BSB and WEB have 'hang'. Others have 'impale' (NRSV, NJPS), 'execute' (NLT), or 'killed and their bodies exposed' (NIV). 'Hang' suggests a rope and gallows to a modern reader. The Hebrew points instead to violent execution followed by public display of the bodies.

How it drifted

Older English used 'hang' for any suspending or displaying of a body (compare Deut 21:22, 'hanged on a tree', which describes displaying a corpse after execution). Modern readers know hanging only as death by noose, which does not appear in Israelite law.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders the verb in this chapter as 'expose to the sun' (exēliazō), which echoes Num 25:4's 'before the sun'. The Vulgate has crucifigamus, 'let us crucify'. Later Greek translations such as Aquila have verbs of fixing or impaling. Impaling and displaying enemies' bodies is well known from Assyrian palace reliefs. In v. 9 the men are hôqaʿ 'on the mountain before the LORD', and 'they fell together and were put to death'. In v. 10 the bodies stay out from barley harvest until the rains, guarded by Rizpah from birds and beasts.

From the study of Numbers 25:4

Range of meaning

This is a rare verb and its exact meaning is not known. In its causative form, the form used here, it appears only in this verse and in 2 Samuel 21:6, 9 and 13, always for a public killing with display of the bodies. Its simple form means something like "be dislocated" (Jacob's hip in Genesis 32:25) and, figuratively, "be torn away, be alienated" (Jeremiah 6:8; Ezekiel 23:17-18). Lexicons suggest several possibilities: impaling, hanging up, exposing with limbs broken or dislocated, or throwing down from a height.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say "hang them up," ESV "hang them in the sun," and BSB and NASB "execute." NIV splits the one verb into "kill them and expose them." The Jewish NJPS translation says "impaled." "Execute" is the most honest about what we do not know, but it drops the element of display that the context demands. "Hang" suggests a noose, which nothing in the word supports.

How it drifted

The Latin Vulgate's "suspende" (hang up) carried the idea of hanging into early English Bibles. Modern readers then supply the later picture of a rope and gallows. Hebrew has a different common verb for hanging up, talah, which is used for displaying a corpse in Deuteronomy 21:22 and Joshua 8:29. Its absence here suggests that this verb describes something more specific.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Samuel 21:1-14 is the only other narrative use: seven of Saul's descendants are killed "to Yahweh" on a hill, they "fell together" (v. 9), and their bodies remain exposed until the rains come while Rizpah guards them from birds and animals. The Septuagint uses "make an example of" here and "expose to the sun" in 2 Samuel 21. The Vulgate adds "on gibbets." Some scholars compare the Arabic root waqa'a, "to fall." Impalement itself is well attested in the ancient Near East: Hammurabi's laws (§153), Middle Assyrian laws, and the Lachish reliefs of Sennacherib.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 32:25 וַתֵּ֙קַע֙ and it was dislocated

    When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 25:4 וְהוֹקַ֥ע and impale

    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”

    Here: A rare and uncertain word for a form of public execution with display of the body. The exact method is not known; see the full study below.

2 Samuel · 3

  1. 2 Samuel 21:6 וְהוֹקַֽעֲנוּם֙ and we will impale them

    let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.

    Here: States the purpose: 'so that we may ___ them.' The verb is rare. It names a form of execution, with public display of the bodies, carried out 'before the LORD'. Its exact method is uncertain (see studies). It is not hanging with a rope.

  2. 2 Samuel 21:9 וַיֹּקִיעֻ֤ם and they impaled them

    And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

  3. 2 Samuel 21:13 הַמּוּקָעִֽים׃ the impaled [men]

    So David had the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan brought from there, and they also gathered the bones of those who had been hanged.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 6:8 תֵּקַ֥ע it should be alienated

    Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”

    Here: A physical word: a joint pulled out of its socket (Jacob's hip in Gen 32:25). God's attachment to the city is pictured as something that could be torn loose, a sharp, painful separation, not a cool decision to step back.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 23:17 וַתֵּ֥קַע and it was alienated

    Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

  2. Ezekiel 23:18 וַתֵּ֤קַע and it was alienated

    When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.