H5414 — נָתַן (nathan)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5414
Original: נָתַן
Transliteration: nathan
Pronunciation: naw-than'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 1,814 unique verses (2,285 tokens) — one of the most frequent verbs in the OT
Books: 38 (essentially the whole Hebrew canon)
First Occurrence: Gen 1:17 — "And God set (yitten) them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application — put, make, add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, avenge, bestow, bring forth, cast, cause, charge, commit, consider, count, cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, fasten, frame, get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang up, have, lay, lend, let (out), lift up, make, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, pull, put, recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth, sing, strike, submit, suffer, surely, take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, weep, willingly, withdraw, yield. The verb is fundamentally relational — a transfer from an agent to a recipient — but the range of transferred objects (physical things, persons, places, commands, speech, states) is vast.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	1,920	give, put, set, place (active transfer)
Niphal	82	be given, be delivered (passive)
Hophal	8	be given, be put (causative passive)

Overwhelmingly Qal. The Niphal carries most of the "be delivered into the hand of" passive idiom (land, enemies, persons being given over). Hophal is rare and describes a state of having been given.

Translation Distribution (KJV, top forms)¶

Translation family	Approximate share
give / gave / giveth / given	~50%
put / set / lay	~15%
deliver(ed) / deliver up	~8%
make / made / appoint(ed) / ordain(ed)	~7%
bestow / grant / yield / recompense	~4%
utter / cry / sing (of voice)	~2%
other (occupy, trade, suffer, etc.)	~14%

The distribution reflects the lexicon note: natan is a "general transfer" verb. English forces a narrower verb at every occurrence; Hebrew uses the same verb across what English treats as distinct acts.

Distribution by Book (top density, per 100 verses)¶

Book	Count	Per 100
Deuteronomy	165	17.2
Esther	27	16.2
Ezekiel	189	14.8
2 Chronicles	100	12.2
Joshua	78	11.9
1 Kings	97	11.9
Judges	63	10.2
Jeremiah	137	10.0
Leviticus	77	9.0
Genesis	132	8.6
Exodus	101	8.3
1 Samuel	65	8.0
Numbers	101	7.8

Concentration tracks the covenant / land-grant / kingship / cult themes: Deuteronomy (land given, commandments given), Joshua (land allotments), Ezekiel (YHWH gives Israel over / gives the land back), 1 Kings–Chronicles (Solomon, temple, throne). The verb is also dense in legal texts (Leviticus, Numbers) where it marks what must be given to the priests, Levites, and altar.

Semantic Categories¶

Seven recurring usage patterns emerge from the verse data. Most uses combine more than one; categories are functional, not exclusive.

1. Material transfer — giving an object or possession¶

Gen 3:6 — "she gave (tittēn) also unto her husband with her"
Gen 14:20 — "and he gave (yitten) him tithes of all"
Gen 24:53 — "gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things"
Esth 8:1 — "the king give (natan) the house of Haman"

2. Land-grant / covenant inheritance — YHWH giving the land¶

Gen 12:7 — "Unto thy seed will I give (etten) this land"
Gen 15:18 — "Unto thy seed have I given (natatti) this land"
Deut 1:8 — "the land which the LORD sware... to give (latet) unto them"
Josh 1:3 — "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given (netattiw) unto you"

This is the signature use in Deuteronomy and Joshua — natan is the formulaic verb of YHWH's patriarchal promise.

3. Delivering enemies / persons into another's hand (Niphal-heavy)¶

Jdg 1:2 — "the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered (natatti) the land into his hand"
Jdg 1:4 — "the LORD delivered (wayyitten) the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand"
Dan 1:2 — "the Lord gave (wayyitten) Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand"
Jer 20:4 — "I will give (etten) all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon"

Typical pattern: natan + beyad ("into the hand of"). Can be favorable (victory for Israel) or punitive (Israel given over to exile).

4. Dedication / vow — giving persons or things over to YHWH¶

1 Sam 1:11 — "then I will give him (unetattiw) unto the LORD all the days of his life" — Hannah's vow formula, dedicating Samuel for lifelong cultic service; note the duration clause kol yemei chayyav
Num 3:9 — "And thou shalt give (wenatattah) the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given (netunim) unto him"
Num 8:16 — "For they are wholly given (netunim netunim) unto me... instead of... the firstborn"
Num 8:19 — "And I have given (wa'ettenah) the Levites as a gift (netunim) to Aaron"
Num 18:6 — "behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites... a gift (matanah) for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle"

The Levite-transfer passages repeat natan in a piled, figura-etymologica construction (netunim netunim, "given, given") to mark irrevocable dedication. The vow pattern in 1 Sam 1:11 uses exactly this language (unetattiw laYHWH) — Hannah is not offering a sacrifice, she is transferring custody of a person to the sanctuary for lifelong service. The construction parallels the Levitical model: a living human natan-ed to YHWH is assigned to service, not slaughtered.

Note: Exo 13:12's firstborn-dedication formula does NOT use natan — it uses H5674 (wehaʻavartaʼ, "thou shalt set apart / cause to pass over"). The firstborn-given motif surfaces with natan only indirectly, e.g. when the Levites are described as substituting for the firstborn (Num 3:12; 8:16).

5. Placement / installation — setting, putting, appointing¶

Gen 1:17 — "God set (wayyitten) them in the firmament"
Gen 9:13 — "I do set (natatti) my bow in the cloud"
Gen 17:5 — "for a father of many nations have I made thee" (lit. "given thee")
Deut 1:15 — "made (wa'etten) them heads over you" (= appointed)
Jer 1:5 — "I ordained (netattika) thee a prophet unto the nations"

Often overlapping with "make" (H7760 sum / H6213 ʻasah). When natan is used, the nuance is installation-by-transfer: the agent grants a position to the recipient.

6. Speech / voice — giving/uttering a sound¶

Psa 46:6 — "he uttered (natan) his voice, the earth melted"
Jer 4:16 — "give out (yittenu) their voice against the cities of Judah"
Joel 2:11 — "the LORD shall utter (natan) his voice before his army"
Prov 1:20 — "Wisdom... uttereth (titten) her voice in the streets"

Collocation: natan + qol ("voice"). This is the standard Hebrew idiom for vocalizing (thundering, shouting, lamenting).

7. Legal / commanded obligation — giving commandments, laws, decrees¶

Exod 31:18 — "he gave (wayyitten) unto Moses... two tables of testimony"
Deut 4:8 — "this law, which I set (noten) before you this day"
Ezek 11:19 — "I will give (wenatatti) them one heart"
Jer 31:33 — "I will put (etten) my law in their inward parts"

The covenant stipulation formula: YHWH natan-s his statutes to Israel. The interiorizing new-covenant promise also uses natan (heart, law written within).

Syntactic Note — Weqatal as Imperatival Continuation¶

Hebrew routinely uses the weqatal (waw-consecutive + perfect) form of natan as a directive continuing a preceding imperative or legal prescription. The 2ms form וְנָתַתָּה ("and thou shalt give") carries imperatival force — it does not narrate a past event but mandates a future act, in the "thou shalt" register of Pentateuchal law.

Representative instances:

Deut 14:26 — "וְנָתַתָּה הַכֶּסֶף" ("and thou shalt give [or bestow] the money") — the weqatal form serves as a main directive in the festival-tithe instruction, continuing the imperatival chain of the passage (tabi', bachartem, etc.). It is a candidate for the controlling imperative in the clause.
Num 3:9 — "וְנָתַתָּה אֶת־הַלְוִיִּם" ("and thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron")
Num 27:7 — "נָתֹן תִּתֵּן לָהֶם" (infinitive absolute + yiqtol) — emphatic directive "thou shalt surely give"
Exod 30:16 — "וְלָקַחְתָּ... וְנָתַתָּ אֹתוֹ" ("and thou shalt take... and thou shalt give it")
Deut 15:10 — "נָתוֹן תִּתֵּן לוֹ" — emphatic directive in the release-year almsgiving law

This syntactic pattern — weqatal of natan functioning as the main or continuing imperative in legal and cultic prescriptions — is one of the verb's standard roles and accounts for a substantial share of its occurrences in Exodus-Deuteronomy. Morphologically it is a perfect; functionally it is a command.

Common Collocations¶

Top content-word co-occurrences (excluding particles):

Word	Strong's	Co-occ	Typical Pattern
יְהוָה YHWH	H3068	575× (32%)	"the LORD gave..." — divine subject
עַל ʻal	H5921	473× (26%)	"gave upon / laid upon" — location of transfer
אָמַר ʼamar	H559	409× (23%)	"and he said... give" — speech frame around the gift
כֹּל kol	H3605	373× (21%)	"gave all..." — totality of the gift (cf. `kol yemei chayyav`)
אֶרֶץ ʼerets	H776	332× (18%)	"the land I give you" — land-grant formula
בֵּן ben	H1121	306× (17%)	"give to the children of..." — recipient of inheritance
יָד yad	H3027	297× (16%)	"give into the hand of" — deliverance/surrender idiom
אֱלֹהִים ʼelohim	H430	274× (15%)	divine giver
מֶלֶךְ melek	H4428	226× (12%)	royal giver or royal recipient
פָּנִים panim	H6440	207× (11%)	"give before the face of" — presentation
בַּיִת bayith	H1004	176× (10%)	"give the house / house given"
לָקַח laqach	H3947	135× (7%)	"take and give" — paired transfer verbs

Word Family / Same Semantic Field¶

Word	Strong's	Distinction
יָהַב yahab	H3051	near-synonym "give" — mostly imperative ("give!"); ~33 uses, Hebrew
יְהַב yehab	H3052	Aramaic cognate; used in Dan/Ezra where the Aramaic-Hebrew boundary runs
שׂוּם sum / sim	H7760	"put, place" — overlaps with natan in placement sense but lacks the transfer-to-recipient force
עָשָׂה ʻasah	H6213	"make, do" — overlaps in "appoint / make X to be Y" but is production-oriented, not transfer-oriented
שָׁלַח shalach	H7971	"send" — transfer at a distance; natan is direct handover
שָׁלַם shalam (piel)	H7999	"repay, recompense" — natan is occasionally translated "recompense" in this narrower sense

Synonyms¶

search_relationships.py returned no curated synonym rows for H5414.

Antonyms¶

search_relationships.py returned no curated antonym rows for H5414.

Easily Confused Words (KJV-translation overlap)¶

Translation	Competing Strong's	Key Difference
"give" / "gave"	H3051 yahab, H7760 sum, H3052 yehab (Aramaic)	natan = default general giver; yahab = near-synonym with imperative bias; sum = place/put; yehab = Aramaic equivalent
"put" / "set"	H7760 sum, H7896 shith, H3240 yanach	sum/shith = positional placement; natan only when "put" involves transfer or assignment
"deliver"	H5337 natsal (hiphil "rescue"), H4560 masar ("hand over")	natsal = rescue FROM; natan + beyad = hand over TO; masar is more formal/rare
"offer" (a sacrifice)	H7126 qarab (hiphil), H5927 ʻalah (hiphil)	qarab/ʻalah are the cultic offering verbs; natan is transfer of custody, not altar-presentation. See the Jephthah lexical contrast below.
"make (into)"	H6213 ʻasah, H7760 sum	natan = install/appoint by giving; ʻasah = fashion/produce; sum = set up

Lexical contrast with sacrificial presentation: When a person or animal is natan-ed to YHWH, the verb marks transfer of custody — typically for ongoing service (Levites, Samuel). When a sacrifice is made, Hebrew reaches for heʻalah (H5927 hiphil, "cause to ascend, offer up as burnt offering") or hiqrib (H7126 hiphil, "bring near, present"). Jdg 11:31 (Jephthah's vow) uses wehayah laYHWH ("shall be to YHWH") + wehaʻalitihu ʻolah ("and I will offer it up a burnt offering") — it does NOT use natan. The switch from the Hannah/Levite natan-dedication pattern to the ʻolah-sacrificial pattern is the pivotal lexical datum whenever Jephthah's vow is analyzed.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

search_relationships.py returned no curated UBS semantic-domain rows for H5414. The study's semantic range is already covered in the Semantic Categories, Related Words, and LXX Mapping sections above.

LXX Mapping (Hebrew → Greek)¶

Greek	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
δίδωμι dídōmi	G1325	1,330	3.51	primary equivalent — the generic Greek "give"
παραδίδωμι paradídōmi	G3860	143	3.31	"deliver up, hand over" — carries the natan-beyad idiom
ἐπιτίθημι epitíthēmi	G2007	71	2.06	"place upon, impose" — placement sense
χείρ cheír (hand)	G5495	292	1.41	collocational, not a direct equivalent; reflects `yad` in the phrase
κλῆρος klēros (lot)	G2819	38	2.08	when natan refers to allotment of inheritance
κληρονομία klēronomía	G2817	45	1.97	"inheritance" — where natan means "give as heritage"
τίθημι títhēmi	G5087	99	1.54	"set, place" — placement sense

The LXX bridge to G1325 dídōmi is so strong (1,330 co-occurrences, PMI 3.51) that a cross-testament trace is warranted.