H5262 — נֶסֶךְ (neçek)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5262
Original: נֶסֶךְ
Transliteration: neçek (also nesek)
Pronunciation: neh'-sek
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: נָסַךְ (nāsak) — H5258, primitive root "to pour out, especially a libation; to cast (metal)"
Occurrences: 62 unique verses (65 tokens) across 12 books
First Occurrence: Gen 35:14 — "Jacob set up a pillar... and he poured a drink offering (nesek) thereon"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H5258 (nāsak, "to pour out"); a libation (poured-out offering of liquid, typically wine or strong drink, upon/at an altar or cultic object); by metonymy from the same root a cast/molten idol (poured metal). KJV: drink offering, cover, molten image.

The noun is built directly on the verbal action of ritual pouring. The overwhelmingly dominant sense (≥90% of occurrences) is the cultic liquid libation; the minor sense ("molten image," used ~5 times in Isaiah/Jeremiah) is an independent semantic extension of the root's casting/pouring-of-metal idea, not a separate homonym.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
drink offering(s) (with pronoun/article variants)	57	91.9%
molten image(s) / mine idol	4	6.5%
cover / to cover withal	1	1.6%

Aggregated: drink offering senses dominate ~92% of occurrences; "molten image" cluster (Isa 41:29; 48:5; Jer 10:14; 51:17) accounts for the remainder.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Joel	3	4.1
Numbers	33	2.6
Jeremiah	9	0.7
Leviticus	3	0.3
2 Kings	2	0.3
Exodus	3	0.2
Isaiah	3	0.2
Ezekiel	2	0.2
Genesis	1	0.1
1 Chronicles	1	0.1
2 Chronicles	1	0.1
Psalms	1	0.0

Pattern: Highly concentrated in Pentateuchal ritual legislation — Numbers alone holds 33 of 62 occurrences (53%), almost all in the sacrificial calendar of Num 28–29. Density in Joel is disproportionately high because of the cessation-of-offerings lament. The Jeremiah cluster is polemical (illicit libations to the queen of heaven, Jer 7, 19, 32, 44). The word is conspicuously absent from wisdom literature and the Psalter (single metaphorical occurrence, Ps 16:4).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Prescribed Cultic Libation (Poured to YHWH)¶

The dominant usage: a measured quantity of wine (or in Num 28:7, shekhar/strong drink) poured out at the altar as a required accompaniment to burnt and meal offerings. - Num 28:7 — "the drink offering (nesek) thereof [shall be] the fourth [part] of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy [place] shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured (nāsak H5258) unto the LORD [for] a drink offering (nesek)." - Num 15:5 — "the fourth [part] of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering" - Lev 23:13 — "the drink offering thereof [shall be] of wine, the fourth [part] of an hin" - Exo 29:40–41 — daily lamb with flour, oil, and "the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering"

2. Patriarchal/Foundational Libation¶

Gen 35:14 — Jacob at Bethel "poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon" on a stone pillar — the earliest canonical nesek, establishing the pouring-onto-a-cultic-object pattern.

3. Royal/Altar Libation in Historical Narrative¶

2 Ki 16:13 — Ahaz "burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood" — the full sacrificial quartet.
2 Ki 16:15 — Ahaz's standing directive coupling burnt, meal, drink offerings with blood-sprinkling.
1 Chr 29:21; 2 Chr 29:35 — drink offerings listed with peace/burnt offerings at temple-establishment moments.

4. Illicit / Foreign-Deity Libation¶

The same cultic act directed to another god is condemned in prophetic polemic. - Jer 44:17–19, 25 — women "pour out drink offerings unto her" (queen of heaven). - Jer 7:18; 19:13; 32:29 — libations poured on rooftops to Baal / host of heaven. - Isa 57:6 — "thou hast poured a drink offering" to the smooth stones of the stream. - Eze 20:28 — on "every high hill... poured out there their drink offerings." - Ps 16:4 — "their drink offerings of blood will I not offer" — explicit rejection.

5. Cessation of Libation as Covenant Judgment¶

Joel 1:9, 13; 2:14 — "the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD" — loss of nesek signifies broken cultic relationship.

6. Prohibition of "Strange" Drink Offering¶

Exo 30:9 — on the golden incense altar "neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon" — the altar's sanctity excludes even otherwise legitimate liquid pouring there.

7. Metonymic Extension: Molten/Cast Image¶

Same root's casting-of-metal sense yields a noun for the poured image. - Isa 41:29 — "their molten images are wind and confusion." - Isa 48:5 — "my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them." - Jer 10:14; 51:17 — "his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them."

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-verses	Typical Pattern
מִנְחָה minchāh (meal/meat offering)	H4503	36x (58%)	"meat offering... and his drink offering" — standard pair
עֹלָה ʻōlāh (burnt offering)	H5930	26x (42%)	"burnt offering... his meat offering... his drink offering" — triad
יְהֹוָה YHWH	H3068	19x (31%)	"unto the LORD for a drink offering" (direction of pouring)
כֶּבֶשׂ kebes (lamb)	H3532	16x (26%)	lamb sacrifice with fixed-volume wine libation
תָּמִיד tāmîd (continual)	H8548	15x (24%)	"continual burnt offering... and his drink offering"
עָשָׂה ʻāśāh (make/do/offer)	H6213	15x (24%)	prepared/offered as part of ritual performance
נָסַךְ nāsak (pour out)	H5258	13x (21%)	cognate root verb — "pour a drink offering" figura etymologica
חַטָּאָה chaṭṭā'āh (sin offering)	H2403	12x (19%)	appended to the festival sacrificial complex
פַּר par (bullock)	H6499	11x (18%)	larger animal → proportional wine volume
אַיִל 'ayil (ram)	H352	11x (18%)	ram sacrifice with third-hin wine libation
שָׂעִיר śāʻîr (he-goat)	H8163	11x (18%)	sin-offering goat alongside festal libation
נִיחוֹחַ nîchôach (sweet)	H5207	10x (16%)	"sweet savour" — libation participates in pleasing-odor rubric
רֵיחַ rêyach (odour/savour)	H7381	10x (16%)	paired with nîchôach
אִשָּׁה 'ishshāh (fire offering)	H801	8x (13%)	libation accompanies fire-offering
קָטַר qāṭar (burn incense)	H6999	8x (13%)	libation paired with burning — esp. in polemic texts

Observation for the libation-vs-consumption question: In all 13 co-occurrences with the root verb H5258 nāsak, the action predicated of the liquid is pouring, never drinking. The word is lexically and collocationally bound to the act of pouring the liquid out at the altar; it never appears in a consumption context. The figura etymologica hassēk nesek ("pour-out a poured-thing") in Num 28:7 is tautologically explicit about the mode of disposal.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H5258 נָסַךְ (nāsak) — primitive root verb: "pour out (a libation); cast (metal); anoint (a king)." 25 OT occurrences.
H5261 נְסַךְ (nesak) — Aramaic cognate noun "drink-offering" (Ezra 7:17, hapax).
H4541 מַסֵּכָה (massēkāh) — "molten image, drink-offering," feminine noun from same root.
H5260 נָסַךְ (nāsak) — by-form verb "to weave" (homonymous root, unrelated to libation).

Synonyms¶

H6090 עֹצֶב — returned in the same cast-image field as a nearby idol / image term.
H6459 פֶּסֶל — close image parallel when nesek carries its molten-image sense.
H2077 זֶבַח — sacrificial neighbor from the broader offering field.
H2403 חַטָּאת — offering-term overlap inside the sacrifice cluster.
H4503 מִנְחָה — regular cultic companion in the same presentation / offering field.
H5930 עֹלָה — burnt-offering neighbor paired with libation in the sacrificial system.
H7133 קָרְבָּן — general presentation / offering term in the same cultic field.
H8002 שֶׁלֶם — peace-offering vocabulary adjacent to nesek in the sacrifice domain.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H5262.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation / Overlap	Key Difference
נְסַךְ nesak	H5261	"drink offering" in Ezra 7:17	Aramaic cognate; same meaning, different language layer
מַסֵּכָה massēkāh	H4541	"molten image" (and rare "drink offering" sense)	From same root; feminine form; overlaps in idol-image sense
מִנְחָה minchāh	H4503	"offering" (gift/meal/tribute)	Non-liquid grain/flour offering; the habitual pair, but distinct substance
עֹלָה ʻōlāh	H5930	"offering" (burnt offering)	Whole-burnt animal sacrifice; nesek is the liquid accompaniment
שֵׁכָר šēkār	H7941	"strong drink" (the substance in Num 28:7)	šēkār names the beverage; nesek names the ritual act of pouring it out
יַיִן yayin	H3196	"wine" (typical substance)	yayin is the liquid; nesek is the cultic event of pouring it

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
θυσία thysía	G2378	38	5.58	"sacrifice" — libation absorbed into general sacrifice vocabulary
σπένδω spéndō	G4689	11	7.89	"pour out as a libation" — the lexically precise verb rendering
εὐωδία euōdía	G2175	12	6.51	"sweet savour" — from the Num 28/29 formulaic frame
ἀμνός amnós	G286	15	5.93	"lamb" — co-text collocation
ὀσμή osmḗ	G3744	12	6.29	"fragrance/odour" — formulaic co-text
ὁλοκαύτωμα holokaútōma	G3646	11	4.50	"whole burnt offering" — co-text
μόσχος móschos	G3448	11	4.27	"young bull/calf" — co-text
ἁμαρτία hamartía	G266	12	3.58	"sin (offering)" — co-text

Primary bridge: σπένδω (G4689) is the Greek verbal equivalent of the action nesek names. The derived noun σπονδή ("libation") is the technical Greek gloss. The NT carries this directly in Paul's "I am already being poured out (spendomai) as a libation" (Phil 2:17; 2 Tim 4:6).

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[001002008001010] Images — places nesek in the idol / image field with neighbors such as H434/H457 אֱלִיל, H842 אֲשֵׁרָה, and H4541 מַסֵּכָה.
[001002008001006] Cult Objects — groups it with sanctuary / worship objects such as H434/H457 אֱלִיל, H1544 גִּלּוּל, H2553 חַמָּן, and A4056 מַדְבַּח.
[002003002020] Sacrifice — links nesek to the broader sacrificial field alongside H801 אִשֶּׁה, H817 אָשָׁם, H818 אָשֵׁם, and A1684/A1685 דבח / דְּבַח.