H5060 — נָגַע (nâgaʻ)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5060
Original: נָגַע
Transliteration: nâgaʻ
Pronunciation: naw-gah
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 142 unique verses (172 tokens) across 33 books in the OT
First Occurrence: Gen 3:3 — "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch (nāgaʿ) it, lest ye die."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; properly, to touch, i.e., lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive, acquire); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.). KJV: beat, (be able to) bring (down), cast, come (nigh), draw near (nigh), get up, happen, join, near, plague, reach (up), smite, strike, touch.

The root operates across three overlapping senses: 1. Physical contact — to touch, lay a hand upon (neutral contact, often ritually charged) 2. Spatial/temporal arrival — to reach, extend to, arrive at (extension of contact through space or time) 3. Violent impact — to strike, smite, plague (divine or forceful contact)

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	107	simple "touch, reach, come in contact with" (intransitive w/ preposition בְּ)
Hiphil	38	causative: "cause to reach / extend to / bring up to"; often for temporal arrival ("the time came") or spatial extension
Piel	3	intensive: "strike, afflict, plague" (e.g., leprosy — 2 Kgs 15:5; Gen 12:17)
Pual	1	passive of Piel: "be stricken, plagued" (Ps 73:5)
Niphal	1	passive: "be struck/beaten" (Josh 8:15)

Tallied from hebrew_parser.py --lemma נגע output (150 verb tokens). The Qal dominates (71%); the Hiphil (25%) carries most of the "reach / arrive / extend" senses. The Piel/Pual/Niphal cluster carries the violent "strike / be plagued" nuance — note the semantic distance between Qal "touch" and Piel "afflict."

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Cluster	Verses	%
touch / toucheth / touched / hath touched	~80	56%
come / came / was come / is come / draw near / nigh	~25	18%
reach / reacheth / reached / reacheth up	~10	7%
smote / strike / stricken / smitten	~8	6%
plague / plagued / be plagued	~4	3%
join / happen / get up / bring (down) / cast / beat	~8	6%
misc.	~7	5%

From search_strongs.py --lookup H5060 (142 unique verses). The KJV uses at least 40 distinct English glosses, reflecting the semantic spread of the root.

Distribution by Book (sorted by density per 100 verses)¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses	Note
Esther	9	5.4	"turn was come," time-arrival sense
Haggai	2	5.3	ritual contact transmission (2:12–13)
Leviticus	28	3.3	highest token count — ritual purity
Daniel	8	2.2	vision contact (8:5, 7, 18; 9:21; 10:10, 16, 18; 12:12)
Jonah	1	2.1	word "came" to the king
Lamentations	3	1.9	judgment / plague imagery
Isaiah	9	0.7	coal touches lips (6:7); extension (8:8)
Numbers	9	0.7	corpse / holy-object contact
Genesis	8	0.5	Eden prohibition; Jacob's thigh (32:26, 33)
Jeremiah	6	0.4	YHWH touches Jeremiah's mouth (1:9)
Psalms	8	0.3	divine touch / affliction
Job	8	0.7	Satan's "put forth thine hand and touch" (1:11; 2:5)
[27 additional books]	45	0.1–0.5	scattered

Patterns: Leviticus dominates the token count (ritual-impurity code); Daniel has the highest density among narrative/prophetic books for angelic contact; Esther's density reflects the idiom "when the turn was come" (temporal sense). The book reaches 33 of 39 OT books — broad distribution.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Ritual Contact — Contact with Impurity or Holiness¶

The Levitical heartland of the word. Contact transmits status — defilement or consecration. - Lev 5:2–3 — "if a soul touch (tiggaʿ) any unclean thing… he also shall be unclean" - Lev 11:24, 26–27, 31, 36, 39 — "whosoever toucheth the carcase shall be unclean" - Exod 29:37 — altar "whatsoever toucheth (nōgēaʿ) the altar shall be holy" - Num 19:11 — "he that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days" - Hag 2:12–13 — consecrated flesh vs. corpse-uncleanness; impurity transmits but holiness does not

2. Prohibited Contact — Touch That Would Violate Boundary¶

Gen 3:3 — "neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die" (Eden prohibition)
Exod 19:12–13 — mountain: "whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death"
1 Chr 16:22 / Ps 105:15 — "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm"
Zech 2:8 — "he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye"

3. Divine or Angelic Empowering Touch — Prophet/Seer Commissioning¶

Touch conveys authorization, strength, or cleansing from heaven. - Isa 6:7 — the seraph touches Isaiah's lips with the coal: "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away" - Jer 1:9 — "the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth… Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth" - 1 Kgs 19:5, 7 — angel touches Elijah twice: "an angel touched him, and said, Arise [and] eat" - Dan 8:18 — "he touched me (way-yiggaʿ-bî), and set me upright" (Gabriel strengthens Daniel) - Dan 9:21 — Gabriel "being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation" - Dan 10:10 — "behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees" - Dan 10:16 — "one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips" (cf. Isa 6:7) - Dan 10:18 — "there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me"

4. Violent Contact — Striking, Smiting, Plaguing¶

Often divine in agent; the transition from "touch" to "strike" is a matter of force. - Gen 12:17 — "the LORD plagued (yᵉnaggaʿ, Piel) Pharaoh and his house with great plagues" - Gen 32:26, 33 — "he touched the hollow of his thigh" (Jacob wrestling; the touch dislocates) - Job 1:11, 19; 2:5 — Satan: "put forth thine hand… and touch all that he hath" - 2 Kgs 15:5 — "the LORD smote (yᵉnaggaʿ, Piel) the king, so that he was a leper" - Isa 53:4, 8 — "stricken (nāgûaʿ), smitten of God" / "for the transgression of my people was he stricken (nega)" - Ps 73:5, 14 — "neither are they plagued (yᵉnuggāʿû, Pual) like other men"

5. Spatial Extension — Reach, Extend, Arrive At (spatial)¶

Hiphil-heavy category. Object reaches a place, boundary, or condition. - Gen 28:12 — Jacob's ladder, its top "reached (maggîaʿ) to heaven" - 1 Kgs 6:27 — cherubim wings "touched (nōgaʿat) one another in the midst of the house" - Isa 8:8 — overflowing waters "shall reach (yaggîaʿ) [even] to the neck" - Zech 14:5 — "the valley of the mountains shall reach (yaggîaʿ) unto Azal" - Dan 8:5 — he-goat "touched not the ground" (Qal negated) - Dan 8:7 — he-goat "came close unto the ram" (Qal)

6. Temporal Arrival — The Time / Turn "Came"¶

Hiphil idiom; common in post-exilic books. - Esth 2:12, 15; 4:14; 6:14; 9:1, 26 — "when the turn of Esther… was come (ba-haggîaʿ)" - Ezra 3:1; Neh 7:73 — "when the seventh month was come" - Ezek 7:12 — "the time is come (higgîaʿ), the day draweth near" - Song 2:12; Eccl 8:14; 12:1 — temporal arrivals - Dan 12:12 — "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh (yaggîaʿ) to the 1335 days"

7. Intimate / Sexual Euphemism¶

Rare but lexicalized in BDB. - Gen 20:6 — "I suffered thee not to touch (nᵉgōaʿ) her" (Abimelech and Sarah) - Prov 6:29 — "whoso toucheth (nōgēaʿ) her shall not be innocent" (neighbor's wife) - Ruth 2:9 — "charged the young men that they should not touch (nāgaʿ) thee"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
כֹּל (kōl, "all/any")	H3605	54x (38%)	"any [unclean] thing… whosoever toucheth"
אֲשֶׁר (ʾăsher, "which/that")	H834	41x (29%)	relative-clause frame: "that which he toucheth"
לֹא (lōʾ, "not")	H3808	39x (27%)	prohibition: "thou shalt not touch"
עַד (ʿad, "until/unto")	H5704	36x (25%)	reach-extent: "reach unto heaven/neck/Azal"
עַל (ʿal, "upon")	H5921	33x (23%)	surface contact: "touched upon"
טָמֵא (ṭāmēʾ, "unclean")	H2930/H2931	38x combined (27%)	ritual-impurity cluster (see H2930-tame)
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	19x (13%)	divine agent of plague/striking
עֶרֶב (ʿereb, "evening")	H6153	17x (12%)	purity duration ("unclean until evening") — cf. Dan 9:21 "evening oblation"
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, "soul/person")	H5315	15x (11%)	"if a soul touch…" (Lev purity formulae)
יָד (yād, "hand")	H3027	13x (9%)	"put forth thine hand and touch" — instrument of contact
מַיִם (mayim, "water")	H4325	14x (10%)	purification ritual post-contact

The single strongest collocational signal is ritual impurity (ṭāmēʾ + nephesh + mayim + ʿereb): the Levitical formula "if a soul touch any unclean thing… he shall be unclean until the evening and wash with water." This is the word's statistical center of gravity, even though its most vivid usage is prophetic.

Word Family / Cognates¶

נֶגַע (negaʿ) H5061 — masculine noun: "stroke, plague, mark" (esp. of leprosy in Lev 13–14). Cognate noun from the same root; 78 OT occurrences.
נָגַשׁ (nāgash) H5066 — to draw near, approach (semantically adjacent; often substitutes in contexts of approach without contact).

Synonyms¶

H5027 נָבַט (nâbaṭ) — look intently, regard; a broad semantic neighbor where contact extends into directed attention or fixation.
H7126 קָרַב (qârab) — approach, draw near; overlaps with the approach/reach side of nâgaʿ without necessarily implying actual touch.
H935 בּוֹא (bôwʼ) — come, arrive; parallels the Hiphil sense of nâgaʿ when a time, boundary, or event "comes" or "reaches" its point.
H5221 נָכָה (nâkâh) — strike, smite; overlaps where nâgaʿ carries the stronger afflictive or punitive sense.
H7489 רָעַע (râʻaʻ) — do harm, afflict, spoil; belongs to the harmful-impact side of the semantic field.
H2040 הָרַס (hâraç) — break down, destroy; a destructive-impact neighbor at the far end of the contact-to-destruction spectrum.
H7817 שָׁחַח (shâchach) — bend down, bring low; overlaps with contexts where forceful contact causes collapse or abasement.
H8213 שָׁפֵל (shâphêl) — be low, abase; another low/bring-down neighbor connected to the verb's impact and affliction range.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H5060.

Easily Confused Words (KJV overlap + semantic adjacency)¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
פָּגַע (pāgaʿ)	H6293	"reach" / "meet" / "strike" (2v overlap)	pāgaʿ = to encounter/impinge by accident, often hostile; nāgaʿ = deliberate contact
נָכָה (nākâ)	H5221	"smote" (35v for nākâ)	nākâ = to strike dead/defeat (stronger, military); nāgaʿ = to afflict/touch (can be mild)
נָגַף (nāgap)	H5062	"smote / plagued" (4v/1v)	nāgap = to push/gore/defeat in battle; nāgaʿ = touch or afflict (often disease)
בּוֹא (bôʾ)	H935	"came / was come" (264v for bôʾ)	bôʾ = to go/come (general motion); nāgaʿ (Hiphil) = to arrive at / reach a specific point
מְחָא (mᵉḥāʾ, Aramaic)	H4223	"smite in pieces"	Aramaic cognate-in-sense; nāgaʿ has no Aramaic form in biblical text

Semantic neighbors (not cognate)¶

נָגַשׁ (nāgash) H5066 — approach (motion toward without contact)
קָרַב (qārab) H7126 — draw near (cultic approach)
חָזַק (ḥāzaq) H2388 — strengthen (paired with touch in Dan 10:18–19)

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002004001001004	Touch	The core domain: direct contact, whether neutral, holy, forbidden, or healing.
002003001001	Attach	Fits passages where objects or bodies come into contact or join at a boundary.
002003001004	Copulate	Reflects the rare euphemistic sexual-use passages (for example Gen 20:6; Prov 6:29).
002001001024	Impact	Covers the stronger "strike/plague/smite" side of the verb.
002003002007	Control	Matches passages where a hand reaches onto or lays hold of someone or something.
002004002013	Think	A looser association through "regard" or directed attention, where touch shades toward focused engagement.
002002001012	Move	Fits the spatial-arrival sense: reaching, coming near, or extending to a point.
002001001019	Dead	Especially relevant in corpse-contact and purity-law passages.
002002003003	Happen	Captures the Hiphil idiom where a time or turn "comes" or "arrives."
002001003012	Intense	Reflects the intensified affliction/plague uses.
002001001037	Low	Fits passages where the contact results in being cast down, weakened, or humbled.
002003002018	Possess	Relates to touch as laying hold of or taking hold upon.
002003003011	Engage	Broad interaction/contact field: entering into direct involvement with a person or object.

LXX Mapping (Hebrew → Greek, PMI-ranked)¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ἅπτομαι (háptomai)	G680	93	7.18	primary equivalent — to touch, lay hold of. Dominant in ritual-purity, prophet-call, and "touch-not" passages.
ἀκάθαρτος (akáthartos)	G169	30	5.29	not a direct translation but co-occurs through "touch the unclean" formulae
ἑσπέρα (hespéra)	G2073	17	4.68	"evening" — via "unclean until evening" purity collocation
φθάνω (phthánō)	G5348	7	6.05	"arrive / precede / attain" — handles the Hiphil "reach, come upon" sense (esp. temporal)
πλύνω (plýnō)	G4150	9	4.88	"wash" — purity-cluster collocation
λούω (loúō)	G3068	8	4.90	"bathe" — same purity cluster

The LXX bridge is exceptionally strong: ἅπτομαι (G680) renders nāgaʿ in the overwhelming majority of passages, including the Gospel accounts where Jesus' ministry consciously echoes the OT touch-typology (Matt 8:3 leper; 9:20 hem; 9:29 eyes; 17:7 Transfiguration — "Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid" — an unmistakable verbal echo of Dan 8:18; 10:10; 1 Kgs 19:5, 7).

For the temporal "reach / arrive at" sense, φθάνω (G5348) takes over (cf. Matt 12:28 "the kingdom of God is come upon you").