Properly, to front , i.e. stand boldly out opposite; by implication (causatively), to manifest ; figuratively, to announce (always by word of mouth to one present); specifically, to expose , predict , explain , praise
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נָגַד (nagad) is a common verb for telling, reporting, declaring, announcing, explaining, or making something known. Genesis uses it for ordinary questions and news, Ruth 2:11 for a report about Ruth's loyalty, legal material for disclosed testimony, and prophetic or poetic texts for public proclamation.
Reader summary
Full entry for נָגַד (H5046) · Open the biblical lexicon
נָגַד (nagad) is a common verb for telling, reporting, declaring, announcing, explaining, or making something known. Genesis uses it for ordinary questions and news, Ruth 2:11 for a report about Ruth's loyalty, legal material for disclosed testimony, and prophetic or poetic texts for public proclamation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 370 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include tell (30), and told (20), was told (17), told (15), . . . (9).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:11. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Samuel (52), 2 Samuel (37), Genesis (36), Isaiah (32).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
נָגַד (nagad) is a common verb for telling, reporting, declaring, announcing, explaining, or making something known. Genesis uses it for ordinary questions and news, Ruth 2:11 for a report about Ruth's loyalty, legal material for disclosed testimony, and prophetic or poetic texts for public proclamation. The verb itself does not require a hidden truth, a bold stance, or a divine message; speaker, audience, content, and setting supply those features.
Genesis 45:26 records Jacob being told that Joseph is alive and rules Egypt, while Leviticus 5:1 concerns a witness who has seen or known something and fails to tell it. These uses show that nagad can carry serious accountability without becoming a technical prophecy term. Truthful reporting matters because hearers may grieve, decide, judge, obey, or worship in response.
Isaiah 42:9 contrasts former events with new things God declares before they spring forth, and Psalm 22:31 looks to God's righteousness being declared to a people yet unborn. In such contexts the ordinary telling verb serves revelation and praise. Its theological force comes from the content and divine speaker, not from an etymological claim that every act of nagad is inherently public, confrontational, or prophetic.
Nagad moves through everyday news, family disclosure, witness testimony, royal reports, prophetic announcement, teaching, confession, and praise. The communicative act is broad; moral and theological weight comes from whether the message is true, entrusted, concealed, proclaimed, or heard.
Jacob is told the astonishing news that Joseph is alive and governs Egypt.
A witness who has seen or known a matter bears guilt if required testimony is not told.
The Lord declares new things before they arise, contrasting divine foreknowledge and announcement with idols.
The heavens declare God's glory and the sky proclaims the work of his hands through poetic personification.
A future generation will be told or will declare the Lord's righteousness and completed action.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. To make manifest or declare boldly to someone present; speaking truth that exposes or makes things known.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 371 lexical occurrence verses.
נָגַד is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Defines the Lord’s revelatory authority over history. Isaiah 41:21-29
Highlights God’s authoritative revelation of future events. Isaiah 46:8-11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Nagad helps a congregation see that telling is morally shaped by truth, trust, audience, timing, and responsibility. The verb can carry family news, legal testimony, explanation, prophetic announcement, or praise. Leviticus 5 shows that refusing to disclose known testimony can be culpable, while narratives show that reports can change decisions and relationships.
Isaiah and the Psalms demonstrate how ordinary communicative language can serve divine revelation and worship when God and his acts are the content. A sermon should resist the temptation to make every telling public proclamation or to praise disclosure without regard for privacy and safety. Faithful speech tells what is entrusted, does not invent divine authority, avoids gossip, and knows when silence becomes concealment of harm.
The lexical range invites careful pastoral judgment rather than a single rule that every true fact must be announced to everyone.
Ps.22.31
Nagad is broad communication vocabulary. Stem and syntax shape whether English uses tell, report, explain, declare, announce, disclose, or make known.
New Testament witness and proclamation themes continue the call to make God's acts known. Direct lexical mapping must be established from the Greek text rather than English translations.
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