נֹ֫גַהּ
no.gah
brightness
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analytical Synthesis of נֹ֫גַהּ (nogah) The Hebrew term *nogah* denotes "brightness" and appears nineteen times throughout the biblical text. As a noun referring to luminous quality, it functions as a concrete descriptor of light phenomena rather than an abstract concept. The word's relatively limited occurrence suggests it served a specific lexical function within biblical Hebrew, likely reserved for contexts where the visual phenomenon of brightness required explicit naming. The nineteen biblical occurrences indicate that *nogah* held meaningful but not foundational importance in Hebrew vocabulary. Its presence across multiple texts suggests consistent usage within particular literary or descriptive contexts—typically scenes requiring reference to visible light, radiance, or luminosity. The word's frequency pattern distinguishes it from more common synonyms, suggesting biblical authors selected *nogah* deliberately when communicating about brightness as a notable feature requiring emphasis or specific attention. Without access to individual passage citations in the provided data, the precise range of *nogah*'s application remains defined by its core semantic value: the quality or state of being bright. Its modest frequency and specific semantic field indicate that Hebrew speakers and biblical authors possessed a specialized vocabulary for describing luminous phenomena, with *nogah* representing one established term within that lexical set. The word's survival in the biblical text across multiple documents demonstrates its functional necessity in describing visible light in ancient Hebrew.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
19 total occurrences across the text
At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.
Proverbs 4:18But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.
Isaiah 4:5Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy.
Isaiah 50:10Who among you fears Yahweh and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God.
Isaiah 60:3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Isaiah 60:19The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Isaiah 62:1For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.
Ezekiel 1:4I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of the middle of it as it were glowing metal, out of the middle of the fire.
Ezekiel 1:13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. The fire went up and down among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning went out of the fire.
Ezekiel 1:27I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.
Ezekiel 1:28As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.
Ezekiel 10:4Yahweh’s glory mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory.
Joel 2:10The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Joel 3:15The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Amos 5:20Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Habakkuk 3:4His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
Habakkuk 3:11The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
2 Samuel 22:13At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.
2 Samuel 23:4shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’