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nazah

נָזָה

HebrewH5137sprinkle, spatter

Appears 24 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 29:21Lev 4:6Lev 4:17Lev 5:9Lev 6:27(20) (2×)Lev 8:11Lev 8:30Lev 14:7Lev 14:16Lev 14:27Lev 14:51Lev 16:14 (2×)Lev 16:15Lev 16:19Num 8:7Num 19:4Num 19:18Num 19:212Ki 9:33Isa 52:15Isa 63:3
Word studynah-ZAHverb

What nazah means

to scatter drops of a liquid (usually blood or water) onto a person or object, whether flicked there on purpose or spurting out on its own

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

The picture is small drops of a liquid landing on a surface, not a stream poured out or a mass of liquid flung all at once. That is what sets this word apart from its neighbors: it is fine drops, scattered, hitting the target here and there.

The word works two ways. Most often someone does the scattering on purpose: a priest dips a finger in blood, water, or oil and flicks it, usually seven times, onto a person, an altar, or the cover of the sacred chest. This is the language of cleansing and setting apart, the deliberate act at the heart of Israel's purification and consecration rites. Less often the word describes blood flying on its own, spurting or splashing onto a wall or a garment when a person or animal is struck.

Both uses share the same physical image, so this is one word seen from two angles rather than two different words. The difference is only who or what sends the drops flying: a worshiper aiming them in a ritual, or blood escaping from a wound.

Nuances

1ato flick or scatter drops of blood, water, or oil onto someone or something as an act of cleansing, consecration, or atonement
Exo 29:21Lev 4:6Lev 4:17Lev 5:9Lev 8:11Lev 8:30Lev 14:7Lev 14:16Lev 14:27Lev 14:51Lev 16:14 (2×)Lev 16:15
1bof blood, to spurt or splash onto a surface when a person or animal is struck
Lev 6:27(20) (2×)2Ki 9:33Isa 63:3

What scholars say about nazah

The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) take נזה as one root with a normal voice alternation: the qal is intransitive, of blood that spurts or spatters onto a surface (Leviticus 6:27; 2 Kings 9:33; Isaiah 63:3), and the hiphil is causative, to make drops fly, hence to sprinkle. The causative dominates the priestly material of Leviticus and Numbers, where the act is technical: blood, the water of purification, or the anointing oil is scattered with the finger, characteristically seven times, in rites of purification, consecration, and atonement. Commentators (e.g. Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, Anchor Bible) distinguish this scattering of drops from זרק, the dashing of a volume of blood against the sides of the altar. The one significant crux is Isaiah 52:15. Read as the ordinary hiphil of נזה I, it means the Servant will "sprinkle many nations," extending the purification imagery; but because the object is people rather than a liquid or a surface, HALOT and others posit a homonymous נזה II cognate with Arabic nazā "to leap," yielding "startle" or "make (them) spring up," a reading followed by the RSV/NRSV tradition while "sprinkle" is retained by the KJV/ESV/NASB tradition.

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. נזהlexicon
  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. נזהlexicon
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (Anchor Bible, vol. 3)commentary

All attested forms of נָזָה

hiphil consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְהִזָּה

Lev 4:6, Lev 4:17, Lev 5:9, Lev 14:7, Lev 14:16, Lev 14:27, Lev 14:51, Lev 16:14

hiphil consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיַּז

Lev 8:11, Lev 8:30

hiphil imperfect 3ms

יַזֶּה

Lev 16:14, Isa 52:15

qal imperfect 3ms

יִזֶּה

Lev 6:27, Lev 6:27

hiphil consecutive-perfect 2ms

וְהִזֵּיתָ

Exo 29:21

hiphil imperative 2ms

הַזֵּה

Num 8:7

hiphil participle m s construct

מַזֵּה

Num 19:21

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּז

2Ki 9:33

qal jussive 3ms

יֵז

Isa 63:3