Hebrew word · H5198
נָטָף
nataf
drop
'Drop'. From the verb nāṭap, 'to drip' (e.g. Judg 5:4, 'the clouds dripped water'; Song 5:5, hands dripping myrrh). Also names stacte, an aromatic resin collected as it oozed out in drops (Exod 30:34).
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
drop
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
- Range of meaning
'Drop'. From the verb nāṭap, 'to drip' (e.g. Judg 5:4, 'the clouds dripped water'; Song 5:5, hands dripping myrrh). Also names stacte, an aromatic resin collected as it oozed out in drops (Exod 30:34).
- Against the English
All versions: 'drops (of water)'. The English is accurate.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The verb is common in Hebrew poetry for clouds, mountains and lips 'dripping' (Judg 5:4; Joel 3:18; Prov 5:3). The same root appears in Ugaritic.
Where it appears
Exodus · 1
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Exodus 30:34 נָטָ֤ף׀ stacte
The LORD also said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense—in equal measures,
Job · 1
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Job 36:27 נִטְפֵי־ drops of
For He draws up drops of water which distill the rain from the mist,
Here: 'Drops of'. From the root meaning 'to drip'. The same noun names a fragrant resin that oozes out in drops (Exodus 30:34). The stress is on smallness: tiny individual droplets.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.