Hebrew word · H5050

נָגַהּ

nagah

to shine

To shine, gleam, give brightness. It is rare as a verb (e.g. Job 18:5; 22:28). In the causative form it means "make bright": "my God lights up my darkness" (2 Sam 22:29; Ps 18:28). The noun nōgah is radiance, especially the brightness of dawn or of the rising sun.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to shine

1a) (Qal) to shine

1b) (Hiphil)

1b1) to enlighten

1b2) to cause to shine

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 Isaiah 9:2

Range of meaning

To shine, gleam, give brightness. It is rare as a verb (e.g. Job 18:5; 22:28). In the causative form it means "make bright": "my God lights up my darkness" (2 Sam 22:29; Ps 18:28). The noun nōgah is radiance, especially the brightness of dawn or of the rising sun.

Against the English

"Shined" (KJV, WEB) is accurate but flat. "Dawned" (BSB, NIV) catches the dawn sense of the related noun, which the Vulgate (orta est, "has risen") and Matthew 4:16 (aneteilen, "rose") also took up.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun nōgah is used for dawn-light: "the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn (ʾôr nōgah), shining brighter until full day" (Prov 4:18). "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness (nōgah) of your rising" (Isa 60:3). In the royal poem of 2 Samuel 23:4 the just king is like morning light "from the brightness" (minnōgah). In 2 Samuel 22:29 God is the one who brightens the psalmist's darkness.

From the study of Psalm 18:28

Range of meaning

To shine or gleam; in the causative form used here, to make something bright or illuminate it. Related noun nogah: the bright glow of dawn (Prov 4:18), of fire, of God's glory (Ezek 1:4; 10:4; Ps 18:12 Heb. v. 13).

Against the English

"Lights up" (BSB) and "illumines" (NASB) are good. The KJV's "enlighten" leans modern readers toward giving knowledge, which is weaker and narrower than the Hebrew.

How it drifted

In 1611 "enlighten" could still simply mean to shed light on something physically. Since the 18th-century "Enlightenment" it chiefly means to give understanding.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 9:2 (Heb. 9:1): "those dwelling in the land of deep darkness, light has shone (nagah) on them." Job 22:28: "light will shine (nagah) on your ways." Ps 18:12: the brightness (nogah) before God as he comes to rescue.

From the study of 2 Samuel 22:29

Range of meaning

In its basic form: to shine, to be bright (Isa 9:2 [Heb 9:1], "on them light has shone"; Job 22:28). In its causative form, as here: to make bright, to make light shine (Isa 13:10, the moon will not "cause its light to shine"). The noun nōgah means brightness or radiance, often God's own (2 Sam 22:13; Hab 3:4, 11; Isa 60:3).

Against the English

KJV "will lighten" and BSB/WEB "light(s) up" are fine. KJV's future tense is a possible reading of the Hebrew, but the form more naturally describes what God regularly does. NIV's "turns my darkness into light" paraphrases well but loses the picture of a beam of brightness shining into a dark place.

Used elsewhere in the period

The root also appears in Aramaic and Syriac with the sense of brightness and dawn. In the Hebrew Bible the noun is closely tied to God appearing in glory (Ezek 1:4, 13, 27–28; 10:4; Hab 3:4).

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:29 יַגִּ֥יהַּ he lightens

    For You, O LORD, are my lamp; the LORD lights up my darkness.

    Here: "Makes [it] shine" or "floods with light". The verb form describes what God habitually does, though it can also look forward ("will light"). The same root gives the noun nōgah, "brightness", which appears in verse 13 for the blazing light around God as he comes to rescue.

Job · 2

  1. Job 18:5 יִ֝גַּ֗הּ it shines

    Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

    Here: To glow and give off brightness. The same root appears in Isaiah 9:2 ("light has shone on them"). Here it is denied: the fire still exists, but nothing comes from it any more.

  2. Job 22:28 נָ֣גַֽהּ it will shine

    Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

    Here: 'Has shone' or 'will shine'. The verb is in a completed form. Poets sometimes use that form for a future so certain it can be spoken of as already done, which is why most versions say 'will shine'.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 18:28 יַגִּ֥יהַּ he lightens

    For You, O LORD, light my lamp; my God lights up my darkness.

    Here: This verb is related to nogah, the brightness of dawn or of God's own radiance (v. 12 of this psalm, Heb. v. 13). God does not just bring a light into the dark. He makes the darkness itself shine. The tense again shows ongoing action.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 9:2 נָגַ֥הּ it will shine

    The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

    Here: "Has shone / gleamed": a rare poetic verb whose related noun names the first brightness of dawn. The picture is daybreak flooding over a dark land. The verb is again a completed-action form.

  2. Isaiah 13:10 יַגִּ֥יהַ it will make shine

    For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.

    Here: 'Will (not) make its light shine.' The word is used for brightness and radiance. The moon will not throw any glow at all.

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