To reach (literally or figuratively)
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The Hebrew verb nasag describes reaching, attaining, catching up with, or having sufficient means. Armies overtake fugitives, David asks whether he will catch raiders and rescue captives, blessings or troubles overtake people, and Leviticus uses the verb when a poor person cannot afford a more costly offering.
Reader summary
Full entry for נָשַׂג (H5381) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb nasag describes reaching, attaining, catching up with, or having sufficient means. Armies overtake fugitives, David asks whether he will catch raiders and rescue captives, blessings or troubles overtake people, and Leviticus uses the verb when a poor person cannot afford a more costly offering.
The BSB source-word alignment has 50 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and overtake you (3), and overtook (3), he can afford (3), . . . (2), afford (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 31:25. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (12), 1 Samuel (4), Deuteronomy (4), Genesis (4).
The Hebrew verb nasag describes reaching, attaining, catching up with, or having sufficient means. Armies overtake fugitives, David asks whether he will catch raiders and rescue captives, blessings or troubles overtake people, and Leviticus uses the verb when a poor person cannot afford a more costly offering. Isaiah can even picture gladness and joy overtaking the redeemed.
The common image is something reaching its object, but the agent and result vary sharply. Pursuit may threaten life, recover captives, or serve a literary image. Economic reach can determine which lawful provision a worshiper brings, and Scripture's accommodation must not become shame for poverty. Covenant blessings and curses in Deuteronomy are not formulas for diagnosing every present success or hardship.
Psalm 40's confession that evils and sins have overtaken the speaker must not be used to tell sufferers that trauma proves hidden guilt. Responsible teaching identifies what reaches whom, whether the movement is physical or figurative, and how the immediate covenant, lament, legal, or narrative context evaluates it. It honors accessible provision, protects people from dangerous pursuit, and receives promised joy without prosperity claims.
Nasag can describe a pursuer catching someone, a result reaching a person, a goal being attained, or resources being sufficient for an obligation. Subject, object, stem, and genre distinguish threat, rescue, covenant consequence, economic ability, and restorative hope.
The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh's forces pursue and overtake the Israelites beside the sea before the Lord's deliverance.
If, however, the person is poor and cannot afford these offerings, he is to take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, along with a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of olive oil,
The cleansing law provides a reduced offering for a poor person who cannot afford the standard animals.
And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the Lord your God:
Moses says covenant blessings will come upon and overtake Israel when they obey the Lord's voice.
And David inquired of the Lord: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” the Lord replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”
David asks whether he should pursue and overtake the raiders, and the Lord promises recovery of the captives.
For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
The psalmist laments that countless evils and his own sins have overtaken him until his heart fails.
So the redeemed of the Lord will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
Isaiah promises that gladness and joy will overtake the Lord's redeemed as sorrow and sighing flee.
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.
Hebrew word. Ability to attain or grasp something physically or metaphorically; often conveys "reaching toward" a goal or condition.
Ability to attain or grasp something physically or metaphorically; often conveys "reaching toward" a goal or condition.
to reach (literally or figuratively) BDB: reach Usage: ability, be able, attain (unto), (be able to, can) get, lay at, put, reach, remove, wax rich, × surely, (over-) take (hold of, on, upon).
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 1 selected witness from 50 lexical occurrence verses.
נָשַׂג is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Nasag asks readers to notice what catches up with a person. In Exodus, Pharaoh's army overtakes Israel in a scene of mortal threat, so catching someone is not evidence of rightful authority. In First Samuel, David's pursuit aims to recover people and property after a raid, but that narrated divine answer is not a general promise that every pursuit or rescue attempt will succeed.
Leviticus uses the same verb for economic reach. The law adjusts the offering for someone who cannot afford the standard provision, showing that limited means should produce accommodation rather than exclusion or shame. Deuteronomy poetically says blessings overtake obedient Israel within the covenant blessings and curses. That framework must not be reduced to a claim that wealth proves obedience or hardship proves rebellion.
Psalm 40 speaks from within lament and confession, joining surrounding evils with the speaker's acknowledged sins. A caregiver should not convert that personal prayer into a diagnosis of another sufferer's guilt. Isaiah 35 reverses the emotional direction as gladness and joy overtake the redeemed. Faithful application makes participation economically accessible, evaluates pursuit by safety and justice, names guilt only where evidence and confession warrant it, and offers hope without promising that faith guarantees immediate success, wealth, healing, or relief.
Lev.14.21
Nasag is the SBL citation-form transliteration of Hebrew נָשַׂג. The public form hiśśîḡûnî is an inflected first-person object form from Psalm 40, not the lemma. The causative stem commonly expresses reaching, overtaking, attaining, or having enough resources.
New Testament pursuit, attainment, sufficiency, consequence, and hope use several Greek verbs and images. These themes can clarify discipleship and provision, but no Greek counterpart should be treated as interchangeable with nasag or used to transfer Israel's covenant blessing structure directly.