Bible word study

Naqaph (Strong’s H5362): Meaning in the Bible

Naqaph (נָקַף) is the Hebrew word numbered H5362 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to strike with more or less violence (beat, fell, corrode); by implication (of attack) to knock together, i.e. surround or circulate. In the King James Bible it is translated compass (about, -ing), cut down, destroy, go round (about).

• Original wordנָקַף
• Transliterationnâqaph
• Pronunciationnaw-kaf'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH5362
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Naqaph appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Naqaph (H5362) stands behind 20 English renderings in 19 verses across 9 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Psalms (4), 2 Kings (3), Job (3).

How the King James Bible renders Naqaph, by count

• about7 of 20 (35 percent)
• compassed4 of 20 (20 percent)
• compass2 of 20 (10 percent)
• compassing2 of 20 (10 percent)
• destroy1 of 20 (5 percent)
• down1 of 20 (5 percent)

Three places to read Naqaph

• Leviticus 19:27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
• 2 Chronicles 4:3 And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast.
• Psalms 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

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 Naqaph 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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