H5359 — נָקָם (naqam)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5359
Original: נָקָם
Transliteration: naqam
Pronunciation: naw-kawm'
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: נָקַם (naqam, H5358) — to avenge, take vengeance, punish
Occurrences: 17 unique verses (19 tokens) across 8 books
First Occurrence: Lev 26:25 — "And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H5358 (naqam); revenge: — avenged, quarrel, vengeance.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
vengeance	10	59%
of vengeance	4	24%
avenged	1	6%
the quarrel	1	6%
Other (and, of the, the vengeance)	3	18%

Note: Some verses carry multiple translation tokens, producing overlap above 100% when summed. The underlying data reflects 17 unique verses with 19 total tokens.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Micah	1	1.0
Isaiah	6	0.5
Deuteronomy	3	0.3
Ezekiel	3	0.2
Judges	1	0.2
Leviticus	1	0.1
Proverbs	1	0.1
Psalms	1	0.0

Isaiah accounts for over a third of all occurrences. The word concentrates in prophetic and legal-covenant literature. It is absent from the Psalms apart from a single occurrence (Psalm 58:10), and absent from the historical books apart from Judges 16:28 (Samson). Deuteronomy's three uses all appear in the Song of Moses (ch. 32).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Divine Retribution Against Enemies of God's People¶

Deut 32:35 — "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time"
Deut 32:41 — "I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me"
Deut 32:43 — "He will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries"
Mic 5:15 — "I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen"

2. Covenant Enforcement¶

Lev 26:25 — "A sword... that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant"
Isa 34:8 — "The day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion"

3. The "Day of Vengeance" as Eschatological Event¶

Isa 61:2 — "The acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God"
Isa 63:4 — "The day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come"
Pro 6:34 — "He will not spare in the day of vengeance"

4. Divine Warrior Imagery¶

Isa 59:17 — "He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke"
Isa 35:4 — "Your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence"

5. Judgment Against Specific Nations¶

Eze 25:12 — "Because that Edom hath dealt... by taking vengeance"
Eze 25:15 — "The Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart"
Eze 24:8 — "That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance"

6. Personal / Human Vengeance¶

Jdg 16:28 — Samson: "that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes"
Psalm 58:10 — "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
נָקַם (naqam)	H5358	6x (35%)	Verb + noun cognate pairing: "avenge... vengeance"
יוֹם (yom)	H3117	5x (29%)	"Day of vengeance" (yom naqam) — standard prophetic formula
אָמַר (amar)	H559	4x (24%)	Introduces divine speech declaring vengeance
דָּם (dam)	H1818	3x (18%)	"Avenge the blood" — bloodshed demanding retribution
חֵמָה (chemah)	H2534	3x (18%)	"Vengeance in fury" — anger paired with retribution
עָשָׂה (asah)	H6213	3x (18%)	"Execute vengeance" — the carrying out of retribution
שָׁנֶה (shaneh)	H8141	3x (18%)	"Year of..." — paired with yom in "day/year of vengeance"

The most distinctive collocation is yom naqam ("day of vengeance"), a formulaic prophetic phrase appearing in Isaiah 34:8; 61:2; 63:4 and Proverbs 6:34. The verb-noun cognate pairing with H5358 (naqam the verb) in the same verse is also characteristic.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H5358 נָקַם (naqam) — root verb: to avenge, take vengeance, punish (35 occurrences)
H5360 נְקָמָה (neqamah) — feminine noun: avengement, vengeance (27 occurrences)

The masculine noun H5359 and the feminine noun H5360 together cover the nominal uses of vengeance in the OT. H5359 appears more frequently in fixed phrases ("day of vengeance," "garments of vengeance") while H5360 appears more in narrative contexts of acts of vengeance being carried out.

Synonyms¶

From the "Chastise" semantic domain (002003002005): - H1576 גְּמוּל (gemul) — recompense, dealing, reward - H1578 גְּמוּלָה (gemulah) — recompense, benefit

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
נְקָמָה (neqamah)	H5360	vengeance (4x)	Feminine counterpart; H5360 = the act/passion of avenging; H5359 = the retribution itself, often in fixed formulae
ἐκδίκησις (ekdikesis)	G1557	vengeance (3x NT)	Greek NT counterpart; carries the same judicial-retribution sense; rooted in dikē (justice)
ὀργή (orgē)	G3709	vengeance (1x NT)	Settled anger/wrath rather than retributive action; only once translated "vengeance"

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
ἐκδίκησις (ekdikesis) G1557	7	7.69	Primary equivalent — judicial vindication/retribution
δίκη (dikē) G1349	4	8.38	Justice/penalty — high PMI due to dikē's rarity
ἀνταπόδοσις (antapodosis) G469	3	8.25	Requital, the repaying act
ἀνταποδίδωμι (antapodidomi) G467	4	6.74	Verb: to requite, repay
ἐκδικέω (ekdikeō) G1556	4	6.54	Verb: to vindicate, punish

The LXX translators rendered naqam primarily through the ekdik- word group (G1557/G1556), grounding vengeance in the concept of dikē (justice). The secondary renderings (antapodosis, antapodidomi) emphasize the requital/repayment dimension.