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# נַחַשׁ

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H5173

**divination** — used 2 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

divination [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/5173/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

נַ֫חַשׁ: divination, enchantment [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/5173/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.\[m.\] divination, enchantment, only abs. נ׳ Nu 23:23 (JE; ‖ קֶסֶם), and pl. abs. נְחָשִׁים Nu 24:1 (JE), both in story of Balaam.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 2 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (8 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (5 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: enchantment (1); omens (1).

## In the verses

[Numbers 23:23](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.23.23/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.23.23/#tree)

כִּ֤י לֹא־נַ֙חַשׁ֙ בְּיַעֲקֹ֔ב וְלֹא־קֶ֖סֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כָּעֵ֗ת יֵאָמֵ֤ר לְיַעֲקֹב֙ וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מַה־פָּ֖עַל אֵֽל׃

*Word for word:* (dm) not enchantment \[is\].in Jacob and not divination \[is\].in Israel about this time it.will.be.said of Jacob and of Israel what! has.he.done God

*JPS 1917:* For there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel; now is it said of Jacob and of Israel: 'What hath God wrought!'

[Numbers 24:1](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.24.1/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.24.1/#tree)

וַיַּ֣רְא בִּלְעָ֗ם כִּ֣י ט֞וֹב בְּעֵינֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ לְבָרֵ֣ךְ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְלֹא־הָלַ֥ךְ כְּפַֽעַם־בְּפַ֖עַם לִקְרַ֣את נְחָשִׁ֑ים וַיָּ֥שֶׁת אֶל־הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר פָּנָֽיו׃

*Word for word:* and he.saw Balaam (dm).that \[was\].good in the.eyes of.Yahweh to bless (et) Israel and not he.went as time on time to meet omens and he.set to the wilderness face his

*JPS 1917:* And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/5173.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/5173/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).