Bible word study

Nakar (Strong’s H5234): Meaning in the Bible

Nakar (נָכַר) is the Hebrew word numbered H5234 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to scrutinize, i.e. look intently at; hence (with recognition implied), to acknowledge, be acquainted with, care for, respect, revere, or (with suspicion implied), to disregard, ignore, be strange toward, reject, resign, dissimulate (as if ignorant or disowning). In the King James Bible it is translated acknowledge, deliver, discern, dissemble, estrange.

• Original wordנָכַר
• Transliterationnâkar
• Pronunciationnaw-kar'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH5234
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Nakar appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Nakar (H5234) stands behind 49 English renderings in 47 verses across 16 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Genesis (10), Job (8), Deuteronomy (5).

How the King James Bible renders Nakar, by count

• know8 of 49 (16 percent)
• knew7 of 49 (14 percent)
• acknowledge6 of 49 (12 percent)
• discern4 of 49 (8 percent)
• respect4 of 49 (8 percent)
• another2 of 49 (4 percent)

Three places to read Nakar

• Genesis 27:23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.
• Ruth 2:19 And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.
• Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Nakar in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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