to make a hole through something by boring or piercing it
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
At its most concrete this word means to punch or bore a hole clean through something. A priest bores a hole in the lid of a collection chest so coins can drop inside (2 Kings 12:9), and a cracked reed splinters and drives through the hand of anyone who leans on it (2 Kings 18:21;Isaiah 36:6). The same picture stretches to a purse so full of holes that the wages leak away (Haggai 1:6).
The image also carries into hunting and battle: threading a hook through the nose or jaw of a great beast no one can capture by force (Job 40:24; 41:2), and driving a weapon through an enemy's head (Habakkuk 3:14). In every case the point is a hole made by pushing something sharp all the way through. A sharper word for stabbing a person through to kill is דָּקַר.
to mark someone or something out distinctly, especially by naming: to designate or specify by name
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
From the idea of pricking a hole comes the idea of pricking something out, singling it out from everything around it. When people are chosen for a task, they are "marked out by name" from the wider group, a phrase repeated again and again of men listed individually for service (Numbers 1:17;2 Chronicles 31:19;Ezra 8:20).
The same verb can name a thing rather than a person. Laban tells Jacob to "name your wages" (Genesis 30:28), that is, to state a specific figure, and God promises Zion a fresh name that his own mouth will pronounce (Isaiah 62:2). The common thread is precision: not a vague gesture but a distinct, spelled-out identification.
Nuances
2ato single someone out by name; to designate
Num 1:171Ch 12:31(32)1Ch 16:412Ch 28:152Ch 31:19Ezr 8:20Isa 62:2Amo 6:1*
2bto name a specific figure or terms; to stipulate
Gen 30:28
3
to speak against God by uttering his Name, taken as blaspheming or cursing him
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested
In the one story where this word describes speech, the son of an Israelite woman "pronounced the Name and cursed" (קָלַל) during a brawl, and the law that follows warns that anyone who does the same against the Name of the LORD must die (Leviticus 24:11, 16). Traditionally this is translated "blasphemed," treating it as a verbal assault on God.
The underlying picture is the same as the naming sense: to utter the divine Name distinctly, to spell it out. Scholars divide over whether the offense was cursing God outright or simply speaking the sacred Name aloud in anger. Either way, the same verb that means to bore a hole and to mark out a name here describes speaking God's Name in a way the law treats as a capital crime. The Greek verb for this kind of speech against God is βλασφημέω.
Lev 24:11*Lev 24:16 (2×)*
Disputed
Whether נקב in Leviticus 24:11, 16 means to blaspheme or curse God, or only to pronounce the divine Name distinctly.
majorityThe verb denotes blaspheming or cursing God, a hostile speech act, as reflected in most translations and by its pairing with קלל "to curse" in verse 11.; BDB, s.v. נקב
minorityThe verb keeps its sense "to pronounce, specify distinctly," so the capital offense is uttering the Tetragrammaton itself rather than reviling God.; Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27 (Anchor Bible 3B), 2001; Baruch A. Levine, Leviticus (JPS Torah Commentary), 1989
Related words
The English words used to translate naqav
“pierce”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“bore”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“designate”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“curse”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
Names the boring of a functional hole or opening in an object, such as drilling through a chest lid, hooking a fish through the jaw, or wearing holes in a bag.2Ki 12:9Job 41:2Hag 1:6
Describes a reed or staff that splinters and punctures the hand of anyone who leans on it, an accidental jab rather than a killing stroke.2Ki 18:21Isa 36:6
Reaches well beyond physical piercing into a separate sense that the stabbing verb never carries: to single someone out by name, and to curse or blaspheme the Name of the LORD.Num 1:17Lev 24:16
Both
Both can describe driving a point through a human body until it penetrates, and English renders each of them "pierce".Zec 12:10Hab 3:14
Always names a deliberate, lethal thrust that runs a person clean through with a sword or spear, ending the life.Num 25:81Sa 31:4Isa 13:15
Covers the mercy blow that finishes off a mortally wounded man who begs to be run through rather than be taken alive.Jdg 9:541Ch 10:4
קָלַלthe general word for cursing or belittling, which stands right beside this verb in Leviticus 24:11; this word is the more specific act of uttering the divine Name.
Its core physical action is concrete: to bore or pierce a hole through something.2Ki 12:9Hag 1:6
It means to single someone or something out by stating a name or an exact figure, as when Laban invites Jacob to set his own wages and when men are picked out by name.Gen 30:28Num 1:17
In the blasphemy law the offense is specifically pronouncing the sacred Name itself, so the very act of uttering it is the crime.Lev 24:16
Both
In the Leviticus 24 blasphemy episode both words describe the same verbal offense against God: the offender named the divine Name against him and cursed.Lev 24:11
Its root sense is being light in weight, and from there swift or held in low regard.2Sa 1:231Sa 2:30
As a word of speech it is the general term for cursing, reviling, or belittling any target, whether a parent, a disabled person, or a king.Exo 21:17Lev 19:142Sa 16:5
גָּדַףto revile or insult openly; this word may say only that the Name was pronounced, not that God was reviled.
In its blasphemy sense this word turns on uttering or pronouncing the divine Name itself, and scholars debate whether the crime in the case at Sinai is cursing or simply speaking the Name in a forbidden way.Lev 24:11Lev 24:16
The same verb ordinarily means to pierce or bore, and from there to single someone out by naming them, so even its speech sense is closer to specifying by name than to reviling.Gen 30:28Isa 62:2
Both
Both are rendered "blaspheme" in English and name a grave offense of speech against the LORD, one that Israel's law treats as punishable by death or by being cut off from the people.Num 15:30Lev 24:16
This word is open, audible reviling: taunting, insulting, and heaping scorn on its target. In the Assyrian crisis it names the mocking speech the enemy hurls straight at the LORD himself.2Ki 19:22Isa 37:23
Its object is regularly a person or God directly abused, and the offense lies in the contempt of the words themselves, not in any set formula that was spoken.Psa 44:16Num 15:30
אָרַרto lay a solemn curse or doom on someone; this word is about uttering the divine Name rather than pronouncing a curse formula.
Its core meaning is physical: to bore or pierce a hole through something, like the hole drilled in a chest lid or a hook driven through a beast's nose.2Ki 12:9Job 40:24
From piercing it extends to singling out by name: to specify a wage, to mark off named men for a task, a sense H0779 never carries.Gen 30:28Num 1:17
Both
Both can mean to curse, but H5344 does so only in the narrow act of blaspheming by uttering the divine Name against God, whereas H0779 is the general verb for pronouncing a curse on anyone.Lev 24:11Lev 24:16Gen 12:3Num 22:12
This is the standard, all-purpose verb for invoking a curse on a person, place, or thing: God curses the serpent and the ground, and people pronounce doom on enemies.Gen 3:14Gen 4:11
It is the formal word of covenant cursing: the binding doom solemnly pronounced on whoever breaks God's law, repeated as a refrain.Deu 27:15Deu 28:16
It names the act of calling down ruin on a foe, the work professional curse-speakers were hired to perform.Num 22:6Num 23:7
naqav in the other biblical languages
βλασφημέωGreek“to blaspheme”the standard Greek verb for speaking abusively against God; the Leviticus offense is the Hebrew backdrop to it.
Its offense against God is specifically pronouncing the divine Name in a curse; the sin lies in uttering the Name itself, not in reviling generally.Lev 24:11
Away from those two verses the word is not about speech at all: its ordinary senses are boring a hole through something and singling a person out by name.2Ki 12:9Hag 1:6Gen 30:28Isa 62:2
Both
Both name the sin of speaking against God, and both bind that sin to God's own name.Lev 24:16Rev 16:9
Its whole meaning is injurious speech: it is the standard Greek verb for slandering, reviling, and defaming, whether the target is God or a person.Act 18:6Tit 3:2
It reviles people, not only God, so the same verb names abuse aimed at a human reputation.1Pe 4:4Rom 14:16
ἐκκεντέωGreek“to pierce”the Greek verb for piercing through, matching this word's concrete sense of driving a hole.
Its most common use is boring a functional hole in an object: a hole drilled in the lid of a chest to receive coins, or a purse so full of holes that wages leak away.2Ki 12:9Hag 1:6
It describes punching a hole through a body part to control or wound: a hook driven through the nose or jaw of a great beast, or a reed staff that punctures the hand of anyone leaning on it.Job 40:24Job 41:2Isa 36:6
Both
Both words mean driving something through flesh so that it is run through, said of a mortal blow to a person.Hab 3:14Jhn 19:37
In the New Testament the word points to a single event: the piercing of the crucified Messiah's body, quoted from a prophecy and read as its fulfillment.Jhn 19:37
It carries a note of what the wound will later reveal, tying the piercing to a coming day when those responsible look on the one they wounded.Rev 1:7
What scholars say about naqav
The standard lexica treat נקב as a single root meaning "to bore, pierce" (HALOT; BDB; DCH), from which the sense "to mark out, designate by name" develops, well attested in the recurring niphal formula נקבו בשמות and in Genesis 30:28 and Isaiah 62:2. The most disputed occurrences are Leviticus 24:11, 16, where נקב את השם / נקב שם יהוה stands beside קלל "to curse." The traditional rendering "blaspheme" is challenged by Milgrom (Leviticus 23-27, AB) and, more cautiously, by Levine (Leviticus, JPS), who argue that נקב here keeps its sense "to pronounce, utter distinctly," making the capital offense the very articulation of the Tetragrammaton rather than verbal abuse of God. Some older lexicography posits a separate root נקב "to curse" (compare קבב), but the majority treat all the senses as one polysemous root.
Sources
HALOT, s.v. נקבlexicon
BDB, s.v. נקבlexicon
DCH, s.v. נקבlexicon
Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27 (Anchor Bible 3B), 2001commentary
Baruch A. Levine, Leviticus (JPS Torah Commentary), 1989commentary