To lift , in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
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נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ) is a high-frequency Hebrew verb built around lifting, carrying, or bearing. Floodwaters lift the ark in Genesis 7:17, Hagar is told to lift up Ishmael in Genesis 21:18, and Aaron bears Israel's tribal names before the LORD in Exodus 28:12.
Reader summary
Full entry for נָשָׂא (H5375) · Open the biblical lexicon
נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ) is a high-frequency Hebrew verb built around lifting, carrying, or bearing. Floodwaters lift the ark in Genesis 7:17, Hagar is told to lift up Ishmael in Genesis 21:18, and Aaron bears Israel's tribal names before the LORD in Exodus 28:12.
The BSB source-word alignment has 655 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include lift up (22), . . . (15), bearing (11), carrying (11), Take up (10).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (76), Isaiah (58), Psalms (49), Numbers (47).
This entry includes 6 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ) is a high-frequency Hebrew verb built around lifting, carrying, or bearing. Floodwaters lift the ark in Genesis 7:17, Hagar is told to lift up Ishmael in Genesis 21:18, and Aaron bears Israel's tribal names before the Lord in Exodus 28:12. Exodus 20:7 uses the same verb in the command not to take or bear the Lord's name falsely or in vain. The object and construction determine whether the action is physical, representative, ethical, or relational.
The verb also enters guilt and forgiveness language. Numbers 14:18 confesses that the Lord bears or forgives iniquity and transgression while not simply clearing guilt. Psalm 32:1 calls blessed the person whose transgression is forgiven or lifted, and Micah 7:18 praises God as the one who forgives iniquity and passes over transgression. These uses portray forgiveness as a real dealing with wrongdoing, but the lexical image alone does not supply a complete mechanism or imply that consequences, justice, confession, and repair are irrelevant.
Cultic and servant passages add representative burden-bearing. Leviticus 10:17 speaks of priests bearing the congregation's iniquity in relation to making atonement, and Leviticus 16:22 says the live goat bears Israel's iniquities to a remote land. Isaiah 53:4 says the servant bears the people's sicknesses or griefs, while the song continues with wounds, iniquity, and representative suffering. Isaiah 46 contrasts idols that must be carried with the Lord who has carried and will continue to bear his people. These texts can inform a theology of atonement and sustaining grace, but their different agents, objects, and ritual or poetic settings must remain visible.
Nāśāʾ moves from literal lifting and carrying to bearing names, responsibility, guilt, suffering, and people. It can also express taking away or forgiving wrongdoing. The verb's breadth makes its objects and constructions indispensable for interpretation.
The rising floodwaters lift the ark above the earth in a straightforward physical use.
The covenant command prohibits taking or bearing the Lord's name falsely or in vain and warns against treating that name as empty.
Aaron bears the names of Israel's tribes on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord.
The live goat bears the people's iniquities to a remote land within the Day of Atonement ritual.
The priestly blessing asks the Lord to lift his face toward the recipient and give peace.
Blessing is pronounced on the person whose transgression is forgiven or lifted and whose sin is covered.
Unlike carried idols, the Lord promises to carry, bear, and rescue his people into old age.
The servant bears the people's sicknesses or griefs within the song's account of representative suffering.
God is praised as one who forgives iniquity, passes over transgression, and delights in steadfast love.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Foundational verb of elevation: lifts objects, persons, burdens, and metaphorically sins, prayers, oneself into prominence or divine regard.
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 5 selected witnesses from 654 lexical occurrence verses.
נָשָׂא is a primitive root - no further derivation.
It conveys active removal of sin rather than passive overlooking.Isaiah 33:13-24
Indicates removal of iniquity as the basis of security.Isaiah 39:1-8
Describes the coming exile and removal of Judah’s wealth.Isaiah 46:1-4
Highlights the Lord’s sustaining and saving action.Micah 7:18-20
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Nāśāʾ lets a congregation see that Scripture speaks of many burdens and many bearers. Some loads are physical; some are names and responsibilities; some are guilt, consequences, griefs, or people who need sustaining. Psalm 32 and Micah 7 announce genuine forgiveness, while Numbers 14 keeps mercy and justice together. Leviticus 16 gives removal of iniquity a ritual form, and Isaiah 53 places the servant within representative suffering.
Isaiah 46 offers pastoral comfort by contrasting helpless idols with the God who carries his people through age and weakness. A sermon can connect these texts while refusing easy slogans. Believers are called to bear one another's burdens, but they are not the atoning bearer, and pastoral care should not tell abused or exhausted people that faith requires carrying every load indefinitely.
Forgiveness does not make truth, accountability, safety, or repair unnecessary.
Ps.32.1
H5375 is highly polysemous. The thing lifted or borne and the surrounding construction distinguish physical carrying, representative office, accepting a burden, bearing guilt, taking away, and forgiving.
New Testament language about forgiven sins, burden-bearing, priesthood, and Christ bearing sins develops several Old Testament patterns represented here. Those links require attention to quotation, allusion, and context; no one Greek verb maps onto every use of nāśāʾ.