Properly, to pull up, especially the tent-pins, i.e. start on a journey
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H5265, nāsaʿ, is a Hebrew verb commonly used for setting out, departing, or moving onward, especially when a person or community breaks camp and begins another stage of travel. Its concrete background includes pulling up what holds a tent or camp in place, but that background must not be turned into a secret meaning imposed on every occurrence.
Reader summary
Full entry for נָסַע (H5265) · Open the biblical lexicon
H5265, nāsaʿ, is a Hebrew verb commonly used for setting out, departing, or moving onward, especially when a person or community breaks camp and begins another stage of travel. Its concrete background includes pulling up what holds a tent or camp in place, but that background must not be turned into a secret meaning imposed on every occurrence.
The BSB source-word alignment has 146 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include They set out (41), set out (21), they shall set out (4), are to set out (3), broke camp (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 11:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (89), Exodus (12), Genesis (12), Deuteronomy (7).
H5265, nāsaʿ, is a Hebrew verb commonly used for setting out, departing, or moving onward, especially when a person or community breaks camp and begins another stage of travel. Its concrete background includes pulling up what holds a tent or camp in place, but that background must not be turned into a secret meaning imposed on every occurrence. Qal forms usually describe setting out, journeying, moving on, or withdrawing.
Niphal forms can describe something being pulled up or removed, while Hiphil forms can describe causing movement, pulling something aside, quarrying stone, or bringing wind into motion according to the object and context. The subject, destination, stem, and surrounding action determine whether the verse concerns travel, removal, retreat, extraction, or a poetic comparison.
Genesis 12:9 places Abram's continued journey within the larger account of divine calling, worship, famine, and fallible decisions. The movement verb records departure, but it does not certify every later choice as obedient or make geographic change a measure of faith. Exodus 12:37 uses H5265 for Israel's departure from Egypt with households, children, livestock, and a mixed multitude.
Exodus 14:15 then places going forward inside a unique act of deliverance in which the Lord commands movement and opens the sea. That verse supports obedience to God's revealed command, not reckless risk, motivational slogans, or pressure to move before safety and responsibility have been considered. Numbers repeatedly joins camping and setting out to the Lord's command.
Numbers 9:23 honors both waiting and movement as obedience, while Numbers 10:35 accompanies the ark's departure with Moses' prayer for the Lord to rise and scatter His enemies. Neither passage makes constant motion spiritually superior, and neither gives leaders authority to label personal plans as divine guidance. Ezra 8:31 presents a vulnerable journey toward Jerusalem under God's protecting hand after communal preparation and prayer.
The danger is neither denied nor manufactured as proof of faith. Isaiah 38:12 uses the pulling-up range in Hezekiah's lament, comparing the removal of his dwelling to a shepherd's tent being picked up. Here H5265 contributes to a sober image of mortality rather than a call to relocate or begin a new ministry. H5265 therefore helps readers attend to departure, dependence, timing, danger, and destination without romanticizing mobility.
Faithful movement may answer a clear command, carry a community toward worship, or serve a mission, but Scripture also values commanded waiting, rooted care, truthful planning, and protection of people whose lives are disrupted by travel. Teachers should name who chooses the journey, who bears its cost, and what textual evidence identifies the movement as faithful.
H5265 most often describes people or camps setting out and continuing a journey, especially throughout Israel's wilderness travel. Its contextual range also includes withdrawal, pulling up or removing an object, quarrying, moving wind, and poetic images of a tent or life being taken away.
And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.
Abram continues toward the Negev after worship near Bethel, but the wider narrative evaluates each decision rather than treating movement itself as faithfulness.
The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.
Israel's journey from Rameses begins an embodied communal departure involving families, children, livestock, and others who travel with them.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.
Going forward answers the Lord's specific command within the sea deliverance; it is not a general command to disregard danger or wise care.
They camped at the Lord’s command, and they set out at the Lord’s command; they carried out the Lord’s charge according to His command through Moses.
Israel camps and sets out at the Lord's command, so faithful dependence includes both patient staying and timely movement.
Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up, O Lord! May Your enemies be scattered; may those who hate You flee before You.”
Moses' prayer when the ark sets out locates Israel's movement under the Lord's presence and protection, not under human momentum alone.
On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.
The returning community sets out for Jerusalem under God's protecting hand after preparation and prayer, while the narrative acknowledges real enemies along the way.
My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me.
Hezekiah compares his threatened life to a shepherd's tent being picked up, extending the verb from camp movement to a lament over mortality.
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. Journey rooted in literal tent-striking; God uses it for covenantal movement and Israel's wilderness wandering pattern.
Journey rooted in literal tent-striking; God uses it for covenantal movement and Israel's wilderness wandering pattern.
properly, to pull up, especially the tent-pins, i.e. start on a journey BDB: pull out Usage: cause to blow, bring, get, (make to) go (away, forth, forward, onward, out), (take) journey, march, remove, set aside (forward), × still, be on his (go their) way.
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.
נָסַע is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Numbers 9:23 provides a strong teaching center for H5265 because the same community both camps and sets out at the Lord's command. Israel's faithfulness is not measured by perpetual movement, personal novelty, or visible progress. The people wait when the cloud remains and move when it is lifted, receiving time and direction from the God who dwells among them.
The wider range deepens that lesson. Abram journeys within a story that still evaluates his choices; Israel leaves Egypt as a whole and vulnerable people; the command to advance at the sea depends on the Lord's particular word and saving act; Moses prays when the ark sets out; Ezra's company prepares, prays, faces danger, and experiences protection; Hezekiah can use the removal of a tent to lament the apparent end of life.
H5265 therefore lets teachers speak honestly about calling, migration, mission, waiting, displacement, and mortality without making motion sacred in itself. A faithful journey remains accountable to God's revealed Word, truthful circumstances, communal responsibility, and care for those who bear its risks.
Num.9.23
The verified citation form is nāsaʿ for נָסַע. The governed local BSB table contains 146 H5265 tokens in 140 distinct verses across 15 books, while the available morphology projection groups only 42 forms; Qal travel dominates, with smaller Niphal and Hiphil ranges that require contextual attention.
New Testament mission narratives likewise describe people being sent, traveling, delayed, received, and endangered, but they normally use distinct Greek movement verbs. The canonical connection concerns accountable movement under God's mission, not a claim that H5265 is the lexical source for every Christian journey.