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nesheq

נֶשֶׁק

HebrewH5402weapons, armor, ...

Appears 10 times · tap a cell to see the verses

1Ki 10:252Ki 10:22Ch 9:24Neh 3:19Job 20:24Job 39:21Psa 140:7(8)Isa 22:8Ezk 39:9Ezk 39:10
Root family
Word studyNEH-sheknoun

What nesheq means

arms and weaponry taken collectively: the equipment of war, and by extension the armory that stores it or the battle waged with it

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

Nesheq is a collective word: it names weaponry as a whole, the arms and gear of war gathered under one term, rather than a single sword or bow. When a king's tribute includes nesheq, or an army burns the enemy's nesheq, the picture is a whole stockpile of military equipment.

From that core the word stretches in two natural directions. Because a store of weapons implies the room that holds it, nesheq can name the armory itself, as at the ascent to the arsenal in Jerusalem's wall (Nehemiah 3:19). And because weapons are what a battle is fought with, the phrase "the day of nesheq" means simply the day of battle (Psalm 140:7).

Hebrew has a broader word for war-gear, כְּלִי, which means any implement or vessel and only carries the sense "weapon" inside the phrase "weapons of war"; nesheq, by contrast, is arms as such. The nearest Greek counterpart is ὅπλον, the collective "arms" or "armor" of the New Testament.

Nuances

1aweapons and war-gear as a category: the physical arms an army carries or stores
TranslatabilityDirect
1Ki 10:252Ki 10:22Ch 9:24Job 20:24Job 39:21Isa 22:8Ezk 39:9Ezk 39:10
1bthe fighting itself: "the day of weapons" as a way of saying the day of battle
Psa 140:7(8)
1cthe armory or arsenal: the place where weapons are kept
TranslatabilityDirect
Neh 3:19

What scholars say about nesheq

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat נֶשֶׁק as a collective noun for weaponry or military equipment, connected to the root נשק in the sense of being armed or equipped. All note the metonymic extensions: Nehemiah 3:19 for the armory (the place of arms) and the phrase יוֹם נֶשֶׁק in Psalm 140:7 for the day of battle. The referent itself is not disputed; the only variation among translations is which English word best fits each context (weapons, armor, armory, battle).

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. נֶשֶׁקlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. נֶשֶׁקlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. נֶשֶׁקlexicon

All attested forms of נֶשֶׁק

m s absolute

נֵשֶׁק, נֶּשֶׁק, נָשֶׁק, נֶשֶׁק, נָּשֶׁק

1Ki 10:25, 2Ch 9:24, Neh 3:19, Ezk 39:10, Job 39:21, Psa 140:7, Ezk 39:9, 2Ki 10:2

m s construct

נֵּשֶׁק, נֶשֶׁק

Job 20:24, Isa 22:8