Hebrew word · H5063

נֶ֫גֶף

negef

plague

A blow, stroke or strike, from the verb nagaf, 'to strike, smite, push'. It is used of a divinely sent deadly outbreak (Num 16:46–47; 8:19; Josh 22:17) and of a physical stumbling or striking (Isa 8:14, 'a stone of striking').

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) blow, striking, plague

1a) blow, plague (fatal)

1b) striking

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 Exodus 12:13

Range of meaning

A blow, stroke or strike, from the verb nagaf, 'to strike, smite, push'. It is used of a divinely sent deadly outbreak (Num 16:46–47; 8:19; Josh 22:17) and of a physical stumbling or striking (Isa 8:14, 'a stone of striking').

Against the English

'Plague' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and most versions). To a modern reader 'plague' suggests an epidemic disease such as bubonic plague. The Hebrew picture is a blow that lands, a strike delivered.

How it drifted

English 'plague' comes from Latin plaga, which itself meant 'a blow, stroke, wound'. Over the centuries the English word narrowed to 'pestilence/epidemic', especially after the Black Death. The original sense of 'strike' survives in the Latin but not in modern English.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it plēgē, 'blow, stroke, wound'. This is the same word it uses for the 'plagues' of Egypt and the one Revelation uses for its plagues.

From the study of Isaiah 8:14

Range of meaning

A blow or striking. It also means a plague or deadly affliction sent as a blow from God. It comes from nagaf, 'to strike, smite', which also has a sense of 'stub (the foot)'.

Against the English

'Stone of stumbling' (KJV, BSB) is a reasonable rendering, but it blurs negef (striking) into mikhshol (stumbling). NASB's 'a stone to strike' keeps the two words apart.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 12:13 ('no negef will be upon you'); Numbers 16:46–47 (the plague among the people); Joshua 22:17. The verb is used of the foot hitting a stone in Psalm 91:12 and Proverbs 3:23, and of stumbling feet in Jeremiah 13:16. The Septuagint here has lithou proskommati, 'stone of striking'.

From the study of Numbers 16:46

Range of meaning

A blow or striking; a divinely sent calamity that strikes people down. It comes from nagaf, 'to strike, smite', the verb used for God striking Egypt (Exod 12:23, 27) and for defeat in battle.

Against the English

'Plague' leads a modern reader to think of an epidemic or infectious disease spreading by contagion. Negef names a blow: it pictures God striking, not a germ spreading.

How it drifted

In modern English, 'plague' means mainly bubonic plague or epidemics. Older English used 'plague' (Latin plaga, 'blow, stroke') in this same 'blow' sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 12:13 ('no negef will be on you to destroy'); Exod 30:12; Num 8:19; Josh 22:17. The Septuagint renders this verse with thrauein, 'to shatter', and calls the event thrausis, 'a breaking' (v.48–50).

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 12:13 נֶ֙גֶף֙ a plague

    The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

    Here: From a verb meaning 'to strike'. It is a blow, a deadly stroke, not necessarily a disease. Here it is the killing of the firstborn announced in v.12.

  2. Exodus 30:12 נֶ֖גֶף a plague

    “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.

    Here: A deadly "strike" from God, a sudden outbreak of death. The same phrase, "there shall be no negef among you," appears in the Passover instructions (Exodus 12:13).

Numbers · 3

  1. Numbers 8:19 נֶ֔גֶף a plague

    And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service for the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting and to make atonement on their behalf, so that no plague will come against the Israelites when they approach the sanctuary.”

    Here: From a verb meaning 'to strike'. It names a sudden deadly blow from God, the kind that falls on the camp in Num 17:11–15 (16:46–50 in English Bibles) and is stopped by Aaron's atonement.

  2. Numbers 16:46 הַנָּֽגֶף׃ the plague

    Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

    Here: A 'blow' or 'striking', from the verb 'to strike'. It is a lethal stroke from God that kills 14,700 people (v.49), not a contagious disease in the modern sense.

  3. Numbers 16:47 הַנֶּ֖גֶף the plague

    So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 22:17 הַנֶּ֖גֶף the plague

    Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD.

    Here: 'The plague,' literally 'the blow' or 'the striking.' It means God's deadly strike on the people. The word comes from the same root as the term for the plague in Numbers 25.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 8:14 נֶ֠גֶף striking

    And He will be a sanctuary—but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.

    Here: 'Of striking': the stone your foot hits. The word comes from the verb 'to strike'. Elsewhere it can mean a plague sent by God, so it carries a faint note of divine blow, but here the picture is a stubbed foot and a fall.

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