Aramaic word · H5049

נֶ֫גֶד

neged

before

Negeḏ means in front of, opposite, or facing; it marks direction or presence.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

in front of, facing

Aramaic of ne.ged (נֶ֫גֶד "before" H5048)

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 Daniel 6:10

Range of meaning

Negeḏ means in front of, opposite, or facing; it marks direction or presence.

Against the English

'Toward Jerusalem' is accurate. What English readers may miss is the theological reason for facing that way.

Used elsewhere in the period

Solomon's temple prayer asks God to hear exiles who 'pray to you toward their land… the city you have chosen, and the house I have built' (1 Kings 8:48; compare 8:30, 35, 38, 44). Psalms 5:7 and 138:2 speak of bowing toward the temple. 1 Esdras 4:58 has Zerubbabel praying toward Jerusalem. Mishnah Berakhot 4:5–6 directs those who pray to turn toward the Holy of Holies.

Where it appears

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 6:10 נֶ֖גֶד facing

    Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

    Here: 'Opposite' or 'facing toward'. The windows looked out in the direction of Jerusalem, hundreds of miles away.

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