Properly, to touch , i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive , acquire ); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.)
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H5060, nāḡaʿ, is a Hebrew verb whose basic contact language develops several context-governed senses. It can describe ordinary physical touch, contact prohibited at a sacred or ritual boundary, reaching a place or extent, the arrival of an event, harmful contact, affliction, or a context-specific euphemism for sexual contact.
Reader summary
Full entry for נָגַע (H5060) · Open the biblical lexicon
H5060, nāḡaʿ, is a Hebrew verb whose basic contact language develops several context-governed senses. It can describe ordinary physical touch, contact prohibited at a sacred or ritual boundary, reaching a place or extent, the arrival of an event, harmful contact, affliction, or a context-specific euphemism for sexual contact.
The BSB source-word alignment has 150 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include touches (24), touch (9), touched (8), and touched (6), who touches (5).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (28), Isaiah (10), Numbers (10), Esther (9).
H5060, nāḡaʿ, is a Hebrew verb whose basic contact language develops several context-governed senses. It can describe ordinary physical touch, contact prohibited at a sacred or ritual boundary, reaching a place or extent, the arrival of an event, harmful contact, affliction, or a context-specific euphemism for sexual contact. These passages use Qal and Hiphil forms, including a Qal passive participle in Isaiah 53:4, but no stem supplies a complete interpretation by itself.
Subject, object, setting, and stated result determine whether the action is contact, arrival, cleansing, violation, injury, or judgment. At Sinai, touching the mountain crosses a boundary established for Israel's approach to God. Haggai contrasts consecrated meat, whose holiness does not automatically pass to other food, with corpse-related defilement that does.
Those texts concern covenant holiness and ritual status; they do not teach that illness, disability, bodily processes, social class, or personal contact make someone morally inferior. Isaiah's coal touches the prophet's lips as a messenger announces removed guilt, while the Lord touches Jeremiah's mouth and declares His words placed there. Neither scene turns touch into a repeatable technique controlled by a leader.
Genesis 20 uses touch in a sexual context when God says He restrained Abimelech from sinning. Psalm 105 uses touch as an idiom for harming the vulnerable patriarchal family. Isaiah 53:4 reports the speakers' former estimation that the servant was stricken by God, then redirects attention to his bearing of their griefs and transgressions. These texts do not permit coercion to be hidden under euphemism, make ritual impurity equivalent to guilt, or turn the slogan “Do not touch My anointed” into immunity from accountability.
H5060 ranges from contact and spatial reaching to ritual boundary, harmful interference, affliction, and context-specific sexual contact. Agent, object, stem, setting, consent, and result determine its force.
Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
God identifies the prevented contact as sin in this sexual narrative setting; that euphemistic sense must not be imposed on ordinary touch passages.
And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
The Hiphil participle describes the ladder's top reaching heaven, demonstrating spatial extent rather than bodily contact, sexuality, or violence.
And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.
Contact with Sinai is forbidden within preparations for the Lord's descent; the boundary concerns this holy encounter, not all human touch.
So Haggai asked, “If one who is defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” “Yes, it becomes defiled,” the priests answered.
Priestly instruction distinguishes corpse-related impurity transmitted by contact from the preceding case of consecrated meat, preserving specific covenant categories.
And with it he touched my mouth and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.”
The seraph's action accompanies an explicit declaration concerning Isaiah's guilt and commissioning; the effect belongs to this vision and God's word.
Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
The speakers recount their former estimation of the servant, and the following verses correct their understanding through representative suffering language.
“Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!”
The parallel command Do no harm clarifies touch as hostile interference toward the wandering patriarchal family, not immunity for present leaders.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Touch ranges from gentle contact to violent striking; conveys both reaching and harming through physical engagement.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 150 lexical occurrence verses.
נָגַע is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Genesis 20:6 places H5060 in a sexual context and says God restrained Abimelech from sin, making marital covenant and divine protection explicit in the narrative. Genesis 28:12 uses a causative form for a ladder whose top reaches heaven, proving that contact vocabulary can describe spatial extent without bodily contact. Exodus 19:12 establishes a specific boundary at Sinai for Israel's approach to the Lord.
Haggai 2:13 reasons within covenant impurity rules and must not be used to degrade bodies or social groups. Isaiah 6:7 portrays a seraph touching Isaiah's lips with a coal while declaring removed guilt. The cleansing authority belongs to God within the vision, not to a technique available through a leader's touch. Isaiah 53:4 reports an estimation that the servant was stricken by God, and the song interprets his suffering for others' transgressions.
Psalm 105:15 protects the vulnerable patriarchal family from hostile interference; it does not shield a modern anointed leader from investigation. These varied uses teach churches to name touch honestly. Safe pastoral practice seeks consent, respects bodily autonomy, follows safeguarding rules, and never spiritualizes coercion. Ritual impurity is not moral inferiority.
A biblical metaphor of contact does not excuse assault, prohibit lawful accountability, or grant a minister power to transmit holiness on demand.
Exod.19.12
H5060 is a Hebrew verb used across several stems. Qal often describes contact or reaching, Hiphil can cause contact or extend to a point, and passive forms describe being touched or struck; syntax and outcome govern interpretation.
Old Testament touch language spans embodied contact, covenant boundaries, vision, affliction, and protection. The Gospels show Jesus touching and being touched within compassionate, holy, and contested encounters, but their Greek verbs and narrative claims must be studied separately rather than imported wholesale into H5060.