StrongerBible

natsar

נָצַר

HebrewH5341“keep, guard, ...”

Appears 63 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 34:7Deu 32:10Deu 33:92Ki 17:92Ki 18:8Job 7:20Job 27:18Psa 12:7(8)Psa 25:10Psa 25:21Psa 31:23(24)Psa 32:7Psa 34:13(14)Psa 40:11(12)Psa 61:7(8)Psa 64:1(2)Psa 78:7Psa 105:45Psa 119:2Psa 119:22Psa 119:33Psa 119:34Psa 119:56Psa 119:69Psa 119:100Psa 119:115Psa 119:129Psa 119:145Psa 140:1(2)Psa 140:4(5)Psa 141:3Pro 2:8Pro 2:11Pro 3:1Pro 3:21Pro 4:6Pro 4:13Pro 4:23Pro 5:2Pro 6:20Pro 7:10Pro 13:3Pro 13:6Pro 16:17Pro 20:28Pro 22:12Pro 23:26Pro 24:12Pro 27:18Pro 28:7
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradenaw-TSARverb

What natsar means

to keep close watch over something and guard it: to protect it, hold onto it faithfully, or keep it safe

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this verb pictures someone keeping vigilant watch over what matters most. The same act of guarding shows up everywhere the word is used: a gardener watching a vineyard or a fig tree, a soldier holding a fortified position, God shielding a faithful person from danger, a worshiper holding fast to a command, and a wise person standing guard over their own heart and tongue. In each case something valuable is being watched and kept.

The senses below are not separate words but one idea pointed in different directions. Guarding a vineyard, preserving a life, and keeping a commandment are all the same posture of attentive care, applied to a wall, a person, or a promise. That is why the word can slide so naturally from a literal watchman to an inward one without ever changing its meaning.

The word lives almost entirely in poetry, especially the Psalms and Proverbs, where its favorite objects are personal and inward: the heart, the mouth, the way, wisdom, and above all God's instruction. By the time of Psalm 119 it has become one of the standard words for treasuring and obeying God's law. Watching over a city wall and watching over your own heart turn out to be the same word doing the same thing.

The one place the picture turns dark is when the watchers are hostile. A besieging army keeping close watch on a doomed city, or invaders set against it, are described with this same verb: close attentive watching can serve a friend or an enemy, and only the situation tells you which.

Nuances

1ato guard or keep watch over something concrete, whether a vineyard, a fortification, or, in Proverbs, one's own heart, mouth, and way of life
Job 27:18Psa 34:13(14)Psa 141:3Pro 4:23Pro 13:3Pro 13:6Pro 16:17Pro 27:18Nam 2:1(2)
1bto guard someone from danger and keep them safe, most often with God as the one who preserves the faithful
Deu 32:10Psa 12:7(8)Psa 25:21Psa 31:23(24)Psa 32:7Psa 40:11(12)Psa 61:7(8)Psa 64:1(2)Psa 140:1(2)Psa 140:4(5)Isa 26:3Isa 27:3 (2×)
1cto keep faithfully and observe: to hold to a covenant, a law, or wise instruction
Exo 34:7Deu 33:9Psa 25:10Psa 78:7Psa 105:45Psa 119:2Psa 119:22Psa 119:33Psa 119:34Psa 119:56Psa 119:69Psa 119:100
1dto keep something hidden or concealed: a secret, a stored-up plan, or a guarded, scheming intent
Pro 7:10Isa 48:6Isa 65:4
1eto keep close watch on a city as a besieger or hostile watcher, and so to be blockaded or besieged; also the watchman or watchtower in such settings
2Ki 17:92Ki 18:8Isa 1:8Jer 4:16Jer 31:6Ezk 6:12

What scholars say about natsar

The major lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) converge on a single verbal root with a six-part range: guard a concrete object (vineyard, fortification, the heart); preserve from danger, with God as subject; observe a covenant or instruction with fidelity; keep secret or concealed; and be blockaded or besieged. BDB's five-sense breakdown is the template; HALOT and DCH keep the same map but decline to split off "blockade" as a separate root, treating a watcher set against a city as functionally a besieger. The root reconstructs to Proto-Semitic *nṯ̣r "guard, watch over," with a heavyweight Akkadian cognate naṣāru (whose derived niṣirtu "secret, treasure" parallels the Hebrew "hidden things" sense at Isa 48:6) and a clean Aramaic correspondence nṭr; Hebrew itself preserves the Aramaic-route doublet נָטַר. The relationship to שָׁמַר is one of register and distribution, not meaning: שָׁmar dominates legal-covenantal prose while נָצַר clusters in poetry and wisdom, and the two function as a fixed poetic word-pair (Ringgren, TDOT; Sauer, TLOT; Watson). The verb's distribution shows a drift from watching a vineyard in early imagery to observing the Torah throughout Psalm 119, but scholars (notably Fox and Waltke on Proverbs) hold the center of gravity to be "keep vigilant watch over what matters," with the Torah-observance sense a downstream development.

Where scholars disagree about natsar

Whether the Hebrew Bible's נצר represents one verbal root with a wide range or should be split into more than one root, including a proposed root meaning "be green" tying the verb to the noun נֵצֶר "branch," and possible distinct roots behind the disputed "hidden/concealed" verses.

  • majorityA single verbal root, "to guard, watch, keep," with one wide poetic-prosaic range; the noun נֵצֶר "branch" (H5342) is a separate, homographic lemma whose etymological tie to the verb cannot be demonstrated. This is the modern consensus.; BDB, s.v. נָצַר and נֵצֶר (H5342); HALOT, s.v. נצר and נֵצֶר; DCH, vol. 5, s.v. נצר
  • minorityTwo distinct verbal roots: נצר I "to keep, guard" and נצר II "to be green, verdant," from which נֵצֶר "shoot, branch" derives (compared to Arabic naḍara "to be fresh").; Gesenius-Tregelles, Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon (1857), s.v. נֵצֶר; TWOT (Harris, Archer, Waltke, eds., Moody, 1980), entry 1407/1407a
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1907), s.v. נָצַר (H5341)lexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner-Stamm), Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Eng. ed. (Brill, 1994-2000), s.v. נצרlexicon
  • DCH (D. J. A. Clines, ed.), Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 5 (2001), s.v. נצרlexicon
  • Helmer Ringgren, "נצר nāṣar," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament IX (Eerdmans, 1998), 311ff.lexicon
  • Michael V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9, AB 18A (Doubleday/Yale, 2000); Proverbs 10-31, AB 18B (Yale, 2009)commentary
  • Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, NICOT, 2 vols. (Eerdmans, 2004-2005)commentary
  • CAD N/2, ed. Erica Reiner et al. (Oriental Institute, 1980), s.v. naṣāru, niṣirtulexicon
  • Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 40-55, AB 19A (Doubleday, 2002); Isaiah 56-66, AB 19B (Doubleday, 2003)commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of נָצַר

qal imperfect 3mp

יִנְצֹרוּ, יִצְּרוּ, יִנְצְרֻ

Deu 33:9, Psa 78:7, Psa 105:45, Pro 5:2, Psa 25:21, Psa 40:11, Pro 20:28, Psa 61:7

qal participle m s absolute

נֹצֵר, נוֹצֵר

Exo 34:7, Job 27:18, Psa 31:23, Pro 13:3, Pro 16:17, Pro 24:12, Pro 27:18, Pro 28:7

qal imperative 2ms

נְצֹר, נִצְּרֶ, נִצְּרָ

Psa 34:13, Pro 3:21, Pro 4:23, Pro 6:20, Pro 4:13, Psa 141:3

qal imperfect 2ms

תִּנְצְרֵ, תִּצֹּר, תִּצְּרֵ, תִּצְּרֶ

Psa 140:1, Psa 140:4, Psa 64:1, Isa 26:3, Psa 32:7, Psa 12:7

qal participle m p absolute

נוֹצְרִים, נֹצְרִים

2Ki 17:9, 2Ki 18:8, Jer 4:16, Jer 31:6

qal cohortative 1cs

אֶצְּרָה, אֶצֹּרָה

Psa 119:34, Psa 119:115, Psa 119:145

qal conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאֶצָּרְ, וְאֶצְּרֶ

Isa 42:6, Isa 49:8, Psa 119:33

qal perfect 1cs

נָצָרְתִּי

Psa 119:22, Psa 119:56, Psa 119:100

qal imperfect 1cs

אֱצֹּר, אֶצֳּרֶ

Psa 119:69, Isa 27:3

qal imperfect 3fs

תִנְצְרֶ, תִּצֹּר

Pro 2:11, Pro 13:6

qal imperfect 3ms

יִצְּרֶ, יִצֹּר

Deu 32:10, Pro 3:1

qal participle m p construct

נֹצְרֵי

Psa 25:10, Psa 119:2

qal participle m s construct

נֹצְרָ, נֹצֵר

Isa 27:3, Job 7:20

m p absolute

נְּצוּרִים

Isa 65:4

qal conjunctive-imperfect 3fs

וְתִצְּרֶ

Pro 4:6

qal imperfect 3fp

תִּצֹּרְנָה

Pro 23:26

qal infinitive-absolute absolute

נָצוֹר

Nam 2:1

qal infinitive-construct construct

נְצֹר

Pro 2:8

qal passive-participle f p absolute

נְצֻרוֹת

Isa 48:6

qal passive-participle f s absolute

נְצוּרָה

Isa 1:8

qal passive-participle f s construct

נְצֻרַת

Pro 7:10

qal passive-participle m p construct

נְצוּרֵי

Isa 49:6

qal passive-participle m s absolute

נָּצוּר

Ezk 6:12

qal perfect 3cp

נָצְרוּ

Pro 22:12

qal perfect 3fs

נְצָרָתַ

Psa 119:129