H5307 — נָפַל (nâphal)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5307
Original: נָפַל
Transliteration: nâphal
Pronunciation: naw-fal'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 403 unique verses (539 tokens) across 33 books
First Occurrence: Gen 2:21 — "the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative). KJV renders with a wide spread: be accepted, cast (down, self, lots, out), cease, die, divide (by lot), fail, (cause/let/make/ready to) fall (away, down, -en, -ing), fell, fugitive, have (inheritance), inferior, be judged (by mistake for H6419), lay (along), lie down, light (down), be (hast) lost, lying, overthrow, overwhelm, perish, present(-ed, -ing), (make to) rot, slay, smite out, surely, throw down. Core sense: the motion or resultant state of descending by gravity, loss of upright posture, or being overthrown — extended metaphorically into judgment, death, prostration, lot-casting, and allotment.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count (tokens)	Sense
Qal	367	intransitive "fall" — a person, city, army, star, lot, countenance, fear, terror falls
Hiphil	61	causative "cause to fall / cast down / fell (a tree) / let fall" — divine judgment, felling, casting lots
Hithpael	5	reflexive "prostrate oneself / throw oneself down" (Deut 9:18, 25; Ezra 10:1)
Piel	1	intensive — Ezek 28:23 "the wounded shall be judged" (causative force in context)

(Counts from ETCBC BHSA via hebrew_parser.py --lemma "נפל". Aramaic peal forms in Daniel belong to H5308 nᵉphal — see Related Words.) The verb is overwhelmingly Qal intransitive; the Hiphil is the systematic causative counterpart used for God "casting down" nations, armies "felling" men, and priests "casting" lots. The Hithpael is the reserved voice of worship-prostration.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Family	Verses	%
fall / fell / falling / fallen (finite + participle)	~300	~75%
cast / cast down / throw down / overthrow	~25	~6%
fell (with axe) / felling	2	<1%
lie / lay (down / along)	5	~1%
be accepted / present(-ed)	5	~1%
divide by lot / by lot / have inheritance	5	~1%
fail / cease	3	<1%
rot / perish / slay / die	5	~1%
inferior / fugitive / lost	4	~1%
connective fragments ("and", "that", "when"…)	~50	~12%

(Aggregated from 200+ distinct KJV translation phrases. "Fall/fell/fallen" dominates at ~75%. The long tail reflects the verb's semantic elasticity — same stem renders prostration, battlefield death, lot-casting, and land-allotment.)

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Esther	9	5.4
Amos	7	4.8
2 Samuel	27	3.9
Ezekiel	50	3.9
1 Samuel	25	3.1
Jeremiah	40	2.9
Judges	18	2.9
Daniel	8	2.2
Joshua	14	2.1
Jonah	1	2.1
Nahum	1	2.1
Hosea	4	2.0
2 Kings	14	1.9
Isaiah	24	1.9
Lamentations	3	1.9
Ecclesiastes	4	1.8
1 Chronicles	16	1.7
Proverbs	15	1.6
Joel	1	1.4
Numbers	17	1.3
Job	13	1.2
Psalms	29	1.2
Genesis	17	1.1
2 Chronicles	9	1.1
Leviticus	9	1.0
1 Kings	8	1.0
Micah	1	1.0
Nehemiah	3	0.7
Deuteronomy	6	0.6
Exodus	6	0.5
Zechariah	1	0.5
Ezra	1	0.4
Ruth	2	—

Heaviest concentration in the historical books of kingdom warfare (1–2 Sam, 2 Ki, 1 Chr, Judg) and the judgment prophets (Ezek, Jer, Isa, Amos). Esther tops by density because of the idiomatic "Pur" — the lot that "fell." The verb is comparatively scarce in the Torah legal corpus (Lev/Num/Deu) and rare in Ezra and Ruth. Daniel uses it for Nebuchadnezzar's proskynesis (Dan 2:46 via parallel H5308) and for Gabriel's "casting down" of the stars (Dan 8:10).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Literal Physical Fall¶

The unmarked gravitational sense — objects, persons, buildings collapse. - Gen 14:10 — "they fell there" (kings into slime pits) - 2 Sam 1:4, 10 — "the people are fallen... he could not live after that he was fallen" - Job 1:19 — "a great wind... smote the four corners of the house, and it fell" - Amos 3:5 — "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth"

2. Death in Battle — "Fall by the Sword"¶

The most frequent idiom: naphal be-chereb = "fall by the sword," a formulaic battlefield death. - Num 14:29, 32 — carcasses "shall fall in this wilderness" - 2 Sam 1:25 — "How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!" - Isa 3:25 — "Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war" - Jer 20:4; Eze 5:12; 6:7; 17:21; 23:25 — standard judgment-oracle vocabulary

3. Prostration in Worship or Homage¶

The voluntary or awed casting-down of the self before God, an angel, or a superior. - Gen 17:3 — "Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him" - Josh 5:14 — "Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship" - 1 Ki 18:39 — "they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God" - Ezek 1:28; 3:23; 43:3; 44:4 — Ezekiel's repeated prophetic collapse - Dan 8:17 — "I was afraid, and fell upon my face"

4. Prostration in Supplication / Petition¶

Ritual falling-down in prayer or plea — often with Hithpael. - Deut 9:18, 25 — "I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days" (Hithpael) - Ezra 10:1 — "casting himself down before the house of God" (Hithpael) - Jer 36:7; 37:20; 38:26 — "let my supplication... be accepted (fall) before thee" - Dan 9:18 — "we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses"

5. Judgment / Overthrow of a City or Nation¶

Prophetic "fall" of corporate entities — Babylon, Samaria, Israel, Jerusalem. - Isa 21:9 — "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (echoed verbatim in Rev 14:8; 18:2) - Isa 3:8 — "Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen" - Jer 51:8 — "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed" - Amos 5:2 — "The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise" - Lam 2:21; 5:16 — "the crown is fallen from our head"

6. Casting / Falling of the Lot; Apportionment¶

Technical use for lot-casting (Hiphil causative) and the resulting inheritance-allotment. - Num 34:2 — "the land that shall fall unto you for inheritance" - Josh 13:6; 23:4 — "to fall by lot / which I have divided by lot" - Neh 10:34; 11:1 — "we cast the lots" / "they cast lots" - Jon 1:7 — "the lot fell upon Jonah" - Esth 3:7; 9:24 — "they cast Pur, that is, the lot" - Prov 1:14 — "Cast in thy lot among us"

7. Causative "Cast Down / Fell / Throw Down" (Hiphil)¶

Subject actively causes the object to fall — trees felled, walls thrown down, stars cast down, deep sleep caused to fall. - Gen 2:21 — "the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" - 2 Ki 3:19, 25 — "shall fell every good tree" (timber) - 2 Ki 6:5 — "the axe head fell into the water" (Hiphil — "let fall") - Dan 8:10 — "it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground" - Ps 106:26 — "to overthrow (Hiphil) them in the wilderness"

8. Figurative Falling — Countenance, Fear, Sleep, Words¶

Abstract subjects "fall" onto persons or from persons. - Gen 4:5-6 — "his countenance fell... why is thy countenance fallen" - Gen 15:12 — "a deep sleep fell upon Abram" / "an horror of great darkness fell upon him" - Exod 15:16 — "Fear and dread shall fall upon them" - Josh 2:9 — "your terror is fallen upon us" - 1 Sam 3:19 — "did let none of his words fall to the ground" - 1 Sam 26:12 — "a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עַל (ʻal) — upon	H5921	146x (36%)	"fell upon [face / them / him]" — directional marker for prostration or onslaught
כֹּל (kol) — all	H3605	90x (22%)	"all … fell" / "all that fall" — collective subjects of battlefield death
פָּנִים (panim) — face	H6440	90x (22%)	"fell on his face" — the prostration formula
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	85x (21%)	fall before YHWH (prostration) or caused by YHWH (judgment)
אָמַר (ʼamar) — say	H559	88x (22%)	speech act surrounding the fall (worshiper speaks; judgment oracle pronounces)
לֹא (lo) — not	H3808	78x (19%)	negated: "shall not fall" / "let not a hair of him fall to the ground"
אֶרֶץ (erets) — earth/land	H776	71x (18%)	"fall to the ground / upon the earth" — the surface of falling
חֶרֶב (chereb) — sword	H2719	63x (16%)	"fall by the sword" — the dominant death idiom
בּוֹא (bo) — come	H935	57x (14%)	paired motion verbs in battle/judgment narratives
אִישׁ (ʼiysh) — man	H376	49x (12%)	"every man fell" / "the man fell"
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrael)	H3478	48x (12%)	Israel falls (defeat) or Israel stands while enemies fall
יָד (yad) — hand	H3027	38x (9%)	"fall into the hand of" — defeat-formula
עַם (am) — people	H5971	38x (9%)	"the people fell" in battle
בֵּן (ben) — son	H1121	36x (9%)	slain sons / sons of the fallen
יוֹם (yom) — day	H3117	32x (8%)	"day [they] fell" — battle-day framing
מוּת (muth) — die	H4191	31x (8%)	paired with falling — "fell... and died"
מֶלֶךְ (melek) — king	H4428	30x (7%)	kings fall (defeated) or prostrate (submission)
אֱלֹהִים (elohim) — God	H430	29x (7%)	fall before God (worship) or caused by God (judgment)

Dominant patterns: (a) naphal al panim = "fall on the face" (prostration); (b) naphal be-chereb = "fall by the sword" (battle death); (c) naphal be-yad = "fall into the hand of" (defeat). The collocational profile divides cleanly between worship-vocabulary (YHWH, panim, face-down) and war-vocabulary (chereb, muth, yad, am).

Word Family / Cognates¶

נָפַל (naphal) H5307 — this verb
נְפַל (nᵉphal) H5308 — Aramaic cognate, 7x in Ezra/Daniel (Dan 3:6, 23; 4:31; 7:20; etc.); same core sense
נֵפֶל (nephel) H5309 — noun: miscarriage, stillborn (Job 3:16; Ps 58:8; Eccl 6:3) — that which "falls" prematurely
מַפָּל (mappal) H4651 — noun: refuse, flap, dewlap (Amos 8:6; Job 41:23)
מַפָּלָה / מַפֵּלָה (mappalah / mappelah) H4654 — noun: ruin, heap (Isa 17:1; 23:13; 25:2)
נְפִילִים (Nephilim) H5303 — "fallen ones" / giants (Gen 6:4; Num 13:33) — traditionally linked to the root, though the etymology is debated

Synonyms¶

H2734 חרה — surfaced by search_relationships.py from judgment / collapse settings where anger falls or burns against someone.
H3782 כשׁל — near-overlap in the stumble / fall field; often the instability that leads to falling.
H2026 הרג — adjacent battle-death term where people "fall" as the result of killing.
H2873 טבח — slaughter verb in the same defeat / death field.
A263 חוה — Aramaic bow / prostrate term overlapping with naphal in homage settings.
H6915 קדד — bowing / bending term related to prostration contexts.

Antonyms¶

H6524 פרח — "bud / sprout / blossom," an upward or outward flourishing that contrasts with collapse.
H6965 קום — "rise, stand up," the clearest directional opposite to falling.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
כָּשַׁל (kashal)	H3782	"fall," "shall fall," "to fall"	kashal = to stumble, totter, stagger — the motion that often precedes a fall; emphasizes instability. Naphal is the completed descent. Isa 8:15 pairs them: "stumble (kashal) and fall (naphal)."
פָּגַע (pagaʻ)	H6293	"fall upon," "and fall"	pagaʻ = to impinge / encounter / fall upon as an attacker. Narrower than naphal — specifically hostile contact or intercession-encounter.
שָׁחָה (shachah)	H7812	"fall down" (in worship)	shachah = to bow down, prostrate, worship (the standard worship verb). Naphal is the involuntary or sudden collapse; often shachah follows naphal as the ritual follow-through (Gen 24:26 etc.).
כָּרַע (karaʻ)	H3766	"and fell [to knees]"	karaʻ = to bend the knee, kneel — deliberate posture. Naphal = full face-down or gravitational collapse.
נָבֵל (nabel)	H5034	"shall fall down"	nabel = to wilt, wither, fade — botanical/mortuary decline; only occasionally "fall." Naphal is mechanical descent.
בּוֹא (bo) — in Hiphil "bring down"	H935	"fall upon" (causatively)	Overlaps in judgment contexts ("bring down / cause to fall"). Bo-hiphil = "bring"; naphal-hiphil = "cast down."
שָׁלַךְ (shalak)	H7993	"cast," "cast down"	shalak = to throw, fling — emphasizes the act of projection. Naphal-hiphil focuses on the causative fall of the object. Often paired in Hiphil contexts of judgment.
לָבַט (labat)	H3832	"shall fall"	labat (Hos 4:14; Prov 10:8, 10) = to overthrow / be thrown down — rare, near-synonymous in Proverbs' fall-language.
נְפַל (nᵉphal)	H5308	"fall," "fell down," "shall fall down"	Aramaic equivalent — same semantics; distribution is Dan 3–7 and Ezra. KJV translates identically, which conflates the two in concordance lookups.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
πίπτω (piptō) — to fall	G4098	239	5.55	Primary equivalent — dominant (~60% of naphal renderings); the LXX-canonical bridge.
ἐπιπίπτω (epipiptō) — fall upon	G1968	30	5.65	Used when naphal takes a directional "upon" object (fear, sleep, spirit, hand-of-enemy).
ἐμπίπτω (empiptō) — fall into	G1706	20	5.63	Used with "into" constructions — pits, snares, reproach, judgment.
καταβάλλω (kataballō) — cast down	G2598	22	5.33	Represents Hiphil causative — God "casts down" a wall, throne, nation.
βάλλω (ballō) — throw	G906	12	3.89	Another Hiphil rendering; primarily "cast lots."
κλῆρος (klēros) — lot	G2819	17	3.07	Collocate: "cast the lot" — the object that naphal (falls).
μάχαιρα / ῥομφαία (sword)	G3162 / G4501	31 / 30	3.47 / 3.23	Instrument collocates for "fall by the sword" idiom — not verb equivalents.
πρόσωπον (prosōpon) — face	G4383	64	1.90	Collocate for "fall on the face."
φόβος (phobos) — fear	G5401	15	2.85	Collocate — "fear falls upon."
παράπτωμα (paraptōma) — trespass	G3900	1	—	Noun-form bridge: figurative "fall" = moral lapse (Ezek 14:13 etc.).

The LXX bridge is strong and overwhelmingly dominated by πίπτω (G4098) and its compounds (ἐπι-, ἐμ-, κατα-, περι-, ἐκ-, ἀπο-, προσ-). The NT "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (Rev 14:8; 18:2) directly citing Isa 21:9 preserves the verb through the bridge.

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002002001012] Move — places naphal in general motion vocabulary with neighbors such as H55 אבך, H82 אבר, and H622 אסף.
[002001002001] Afraid — links the verb to fear-events with terms such as H366 אָיוֹם, H367 אֵימָה, and H926 בהל.
[002001002002] Angry — groups it with anger-language such as H599 אנף and H637/H639 אַף.
[002003003003] Bear — connects naphal to burden-bearing / carrying vocabulary such as H935 בוא, H1245 בקשׁ, and H2960 טֹרַח.
[002002002003] Birth — associates it with emergence / bringing-forth terms such as H1069 בכר, H1129 בנה, and H2254 חבל.
[002003002007] Control — aligns it with binding / restraint language such as H613 אֱסוּר, H631 אסר, and H662 אפק.
[002001001019] Dead — places it in the death field with neighbors such as H6 אבד, H8 אֹבֵד, and H12/H13 אַבְדָן / אָבְדָן.
[002003002009] Dissociate — links it to separation / isolation terms such as H488 אַלְמָן, H491 אַלְמָנוּת, and H905/H906 בַּד.
[002003003011] Engage — groups it with conflict / encounter vocabulary such as H258 אחד, H270 אחז, and H662 אפק.
[002003003012] Non-Engage — places it near stillness / cessation terms such as H988 בטל, H1824 דֳּמִי, and H1826 דמם.
[002003003013] Fail — associates the verb with collapse / breakdown language such as H1104 בלע, H1760 דחה, and H1892/H1893 הֶבֶל.
[002003002006] Conflict — connects naphal with battle / enmity vocabulary such as H340/H341 איב, H578/H579 אנה, and H1464 גוד.
[002002003003] Happen — places it in an event / occurrence field with neighbors such as A383 אִיתַי, H578/H579 אנה, and H661 אפף.
[002003001009] Hold — links it to grasping / holding vocabulary such as H270 אחז, H539/H540 אמן, and H2263 חבק.
[002001001024] Impact — groups it with striking / damage terms such as H76 אֲבַעְבֻּעָה, H402 אָכְלָה, and H816 אשׁם.
[002001001061] Unable — aligns it with weakness / incapacity terms such as H334 אִטֵּר, H481/H483 אלם / אִלֵּם, and H1208 בָּצוּר.
[002004002007] Know — places naphal adjacent to recognition / sign language such as H183/H184 אוה, H226 אוֹת, and H502 אלף.
[002003002018] Possess — links it to possession / seizure terms such as H270 אחז, H272 אֲחֻזָּה, and H309 אחר.
[002001002015] Insignificant — associates it with humiliation / lowliness terms such as H319 אַחֲרִית, H1792 דכא, and H1794 דכה.
[002001001057] Stance — groups it with posture vocabulary such as H86 אַבְרֵךְ, H947 בוס, and H1163 בעט.
[002001001009] Bow — its clearest prostration-domain cluster, alongside H1288 ברך, A263 חוה, and H7812 שׁחה.
[002002001005] Dwell — links it with habitation terms such as H166/H167/H168/H169 אהל, H1481 גור, and H1644 גרשׁ.
[002003003022] Unsafe — places it in danger / calamity language with H205/H206 אָוֶן, H343 אֵיד, and H611 אָסוֹן.
[002001001064] Weak — associates it with frailty terms such as H535/H536/H537 אמל / אֻמְלַל / אֲמֵלָל and H605 אנשׁ.
[002001002031] Unwilling — connects naphal to refusal / contempt vocabulary such as H959/H960 בזה and H1350 גאל.