נָשָׁא
na.sah
to exact
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Nāsāh (נָשָׁא): To Exact The Hebrew word nāsāh carries the specific meaning of "to exact," indicating the act of demanding and obtaining payment or obligation from someone. Based on its limited attestation in biblical texts—appearing only three times—this term represents a technical term for a particular kind of forceful collection or enforcement of debt or tribute. The rarity of nāsāh in the biblical corpus suggests it functioned as a precise legal or administrative term rather than a common everyday word. Its narrow distribution across just three occurrences indicates its specialized use, likely appearing in contexts where formal exaction of payments, taxes, or penalties was being discussed. This semantic specificity distinguishes it from more general Hebrew terms for taking or collecting, positioning nāsāh within the vocabulary of formal obligation and enforcement. Understanding nāsāh illuminates how biblical Hebrew maintained distinct terminology for different types of acquisition and collection. Rather than using broad verbs, biblical writers employed more specialized language when describing the formal exaction of what was legally or officially owed, reflecting a sophisticated lexical system for describing economic and administrative transactions.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
3 total occurrences across the text
It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
1 Samuel 22:2Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them. There were with him about four hundred men.
1 Kings 8:31“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;