StrongerBible

nedavah

נְדָבָה

HebrewH5071freewill offering, freely, ...

Appears 26 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 35:29Exo 36:3Lev 7:16Lev 22:18Lev 22:21Lev 22:23Lev 23:38Num 15:3Num 29:39Deu 12:6Deu 12:17Deu 16:10Deu 23:23(24)2Ch 31:142Ch 35:8Ezr 1:4Ezr 3:5Ezr 8:28Psa 54:6(8)Psa 68:9(10)Psa 110:3Psa 119:108Ezk 46:12Amo 4:5
Root family
Word studyneh-dah-VAHnoun

What nedavah means

a gift or act offered freely and of one's own accord, not owed or required; above all a freewill offering brought to God out of willingness rather than obligation

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

The word comes from a root meaning to be willing or to volunteer. At its heart it names giving that flows from a willing heart rather than from duty. What marks it out is not what is given but why: it is offered because the giver wants to, not because a law or an earlier promise compels it.

Most often it is a set term in Israel's worship, the freewill offering, a sacrifice a person could bring simply out of devotion. The law repeatedly names it alongside the vow and holds the two apart: a vow is a binding promise that must be paid, while a freewill offering is owed to no one. Because it was voluntary, its rules were a little more relaxed, and it became the natural gift of a grateful or generous heart, as when the people gave so freely for the tabernacle that Moses had to tell them to stop.

The same word also works as a description of manner, meaning freely or of one's own accord, and it stretches even to God's own giving: God promises to love his people freely, and a lavish, welcome rain can be called a rain of bounty. Across all these uses the thread is one and the same, a giving that is glad, spontaneous, and unforced.

Nuances

1aa voluntary sacrifice or gift brought to God, given out of devotion rather than to fulfill a vow or satisfy a requirement
Exo 35:29Exo 36:3Lev 7:16Lev 22:18Lev 22:21Lev 22:23Lev 23:38Num 15:3Num 29:39Deu 12:6Deu 12:17Deu 16:10
1bwillingness itself: freely, spontaneously, of one's own accord
Psa 110:3Hos 14:4
1ca lavish, freely given outpouring; bounty
Psa 68:9(10)

What scholars say about nedavah

The noun derives from the root נדב "to be willing, to volunteer," and both BDB and HALOT organize its range around voluntariness: an inner freeness of will and, concretely, the freewill offering (Leviticus 7:16; 22:18-23). The cultic sense is defined largely by contrast with the vow (נדר). Milgrom observes that because the freewill offering carried no prior obligation, it was permitted a minor blemish that a votive animal could not have (Leviticus 22:23). The word also serves adverbially, "freely, spontaneously" (Hosea 14:4; Psalm 110:3), and figuratively of a bounteous rain (Psalm 68:10 in the Hebrew versification, 68:9 in English). Psalm 110:3 is textually and lexically among the hardest verses in the Psalter; Conrad (TDOT) surveys the semantic range without resolving that line. The Septuagint renders the word variously, with vocabulary both for the voluntary and for gifts.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. נְדָבָהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. נְדָבָהlexicon
  • J. Conrad, "nādab," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. 9dictionary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (Anchor Bible 3)commentary
  • TWOT, s.v. נדב (no. 1299)dictionary

All attested forms of נְדָבָה

f s absolute

נְדָבָה, נְּדָבָה

Exo 35:29, Exo 36:3, Lev 7:16, Lev 22:21, Lev 22:23, Num 15:3, Deu 23:23, 2Ch 35:8

f p absolute

נְדָבוֹת, נְדָבֹת

Psa 68:9, Amo 4:5, Psa 110:3

f p construct

נִדְבֹתֵיכֶם, נִדְבוֹתֵיכֶם

Num 29:39, Deu 12:6, Lev 23:38

f p construct

נִדְבוֹת

2Ch 31:14, Psa 119:108

f p construct

נִדְבֹתֶיךָ

Deu 12:17

f p construct

נִדְבוֹתָם

Lev 22:18

f s construct

נִדְבַת

Deu 16:10