Hebrew word · H5010
נָאַר
ni'er
to disown
A very rare verb (twice in the Hebrew Bible: here and Ps 89:39). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'spurn, abhor, repudiate, disown.' In Psalm 89:39 its object is a covenant: 'You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.'
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
(Piel) to abhor, spurn
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 Lamentations 2:7
- Range of meaning
A very rare verb (twice in the Hebrew Bible: here and Ps 89:39). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'spurn, abhor, repudiate, disown.' In Psalm 89:39 its object is a covenant: 'You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.'
- Against the English
KJV and WEB 'abhorred' stresses a feeling of loathing. BSB and NASB 'abandoned' stresses leaving. ESV 'disowned' is closest to the sense that the parallel in Psalm 89 suggests: formally renouncing a bond.
- How it drifted
'Abhor' has narrowed in modern English to strong disgust. The Hebrew probably points more to breaking off an obligation than to emotional revulsion, though contempt is not excluded.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Psalm 89:39 (Hebrew v. 40) is the only other use. The Greek translation of Lamentations renders it with a verb meaning 'shook off' (apetinaxen), a physical picture of throwing something off oneself.
- Range of meaning
A very rare verb (Piel only), meaning to spurn, abhor, disown, repudiate. It is about turning against something, not just stopping using it. HALOT gives 'to renounce, repudiate'; BDB gives 'abhor, spurn'.
- Against the English
'Renounced' (BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV) sounds formal and legal, like giving up a claim or title. 'Spurned' (NASB) and 'rejected' (YLT) keep more of the feeling. KJV's 'made void' turns it into a statement about the covenant losing legal force, which is a further step of interpretation.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Only here and Lamentations 2:7: 'The Lord has scorned (zānaḥ) his altar, disowned (ni'ēr) his sanctuary.' There it sits beside zānaḥ, the same verb that opens Psalm 89:38 ('you have spurned'). The Septuagint translates our verse with katestrepsas, 'you overturned'.
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 89:39 נֵ֭אַרְתָּה you have repudiated
You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and sullied his crown in the dust.
Here: A rare, emotionally loaded verb: God has thrown off and disowned the covenant, the way someone casts away a thing they now find repugnant. Its only other use is Lamentations 2:7, where the Lord 'disowns his sanctuary' when Jerusalem falls.
Lamentations · 1
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Lamentations 2:7 נִאֵ֣ר he has repudiated
The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.
Here: A rare verb, found elsewhere only in Psalm 89:39, where God has 'renounced the covenant' with David's line. It means formally disowning something, breaking off the relationship, more than a feeling of disgust.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.