נִקָּיוֹן

From the study of Genesis 20:5

Range of meaning

Cleanness; freedom from guilt or liability. It is a rare noun from a root meaning 'to be clean, emptied, cleared,' and often 'to be exempt or not liable.'

Against the English

KJV's 'innocency' and BSB, WEB and ESV's 'innocence' are accurate if heard in the courtroom sense of 'not guilty,' but not if heard as childlike purity or naivety. NIV and NLT's 'clean hands' keep the physical picture and the idiom well.

How it drifted

English 'innocence' has two senses, legal and childlike. A modern reader may hear the second, or may hear a claim to be sinless in general. The Hebrew is narrower and closer to 'cleared of this charge.'

Used elsewhere in the period

The exact phrase 'in cleanness of my palms' recurs in Psalm 26:6 and Psalm 73:13, both times with washing, and Psalm 73:13 also pairs it with a clean heart. The noun is used physically in Amos 4:6, where 'cleanness of teeth' means famine. The related verb and adjective are legal terms: the owner of the ox is 'not liable' in Exodus 21:28, and a servant is 'free' of an oath in Genesis 24:8. Deuteronomy 21:6–7 has elders wash their hands to declare they did not shed blood. The Septuagint here uses 'righteousness of hands.'

From the study of Amos 4:6

Range of meaning

From the root nqh, 'to be clean, free, exempt, innocent.' The noun means cleanness or innocence. Elsewhere it is almost always moral: 'in the innocence of my hands' (Gen 20:5), 'I wash my hands in innocence' (Ps 26:6; 73:13), and 'how long will they be incapable of innocence?' (Hos 8:5).

Against the English

KJV, ESV and WEB keep the literal 'cleanness of teeth,' which preserves the image but can puzzle a modern reader, who may think of dental hygiene. NIV and NLT change it to plain hunger, which is clear but loses the image and the word's usual moral ring.

How it drifted

The English phrase is not wrong, but the culture around it has changed. In a world of toothbrushes, 'clean teeth' sounds like something good. To Amos's hearers it meant teeth with no food on them.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates it as gomphiasmos odontōn, 'teeth set on edge' or aching teeth. That echoes the proverb in Jer 31:29 and Ezek 18:2, where a related Hebrew root (qhh) describes teeth made dull. The Vulgate follows with stupor dentium. These ancient versions read the phrase as physical pain or numbness. Modern lexicons (BDB, HALOT) understand the Hebrew as 'cleanness,' meaning nothing to eat.

From the study of Psalm 73:13

Range of meaning

Cleanness, guiltlessness. It comes from naqah, "to be clean, to be free", which has a strong legal sense: to be acquitted, exempt, not liable to punishment (Exod 21:19; Num 5:31; Exod 34:7 "he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished"). The related adjective naqi means "innocent, guiltless", as in "innocent blood" (dam naqi). In a concrete use, "cleanness of teeth" (Amos 4:6) means empty mouths, that is, famine.

Against the English

"Innocence" (BSB, WEB) and "innocency" (KJV) are the standard renderings. But modern English "innocence" often means naivety, childlike unawareness, or lack of experience. The Hebrew means legal and moral non-guilt: nothing can be charged against you.

How it drifted

English "innocent" (from Latin innocens, "not harming") once centred on being guiltless. In everyday modern use it has drifted toward "naive, unworldly" ("an innocent child", "innocent of the facts"). That colouring can make the line sound like a lament for lost simplicity rather than a claim of being in the right.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 20:5: Abimelech protests to God, "In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands (be-niqyon kappay) I have done this". Again heart and hands are paired as a defence before a divine judge. Psalm 26:6 (the same phrase as here). Hosea 8:5: "How long will they be incapable of innocence (niqqayon)?"