Hebrew verb · H5059
נָגַן
nagannaw-gan'
to play
15 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: nâgan
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H5059is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 5 of 39Old Testament books
- 14spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H5059
properly, to thrum, i.e. beat atune with the fingers; expectation. to play on astringed instrument; hence (generally), to make music
The King James renders it: player on instruments, sing to the stringed instruments, melody, ministrel, play(-er, -ing).
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
nagan is rendered "to play". It stands 15 times in the Hebrew text, across five books.
- Seven of the uses stand in 1 Samuel, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.1 Samuel 16:16Let our lord command your servants here to seek out someone who can skillfully play the harp. Whenever the spirit of distress from God is upon you, he is to play it, and you will be well.”
- The Greek text spells it fourteen different ways.
The first use
Let our lord command your servants here to seek out someone who can skillfully play the harp. Whenever the spirit of distress from God is upon you, he is to play it, and you will be well.”
1 Samuel 16:16מְנַגֵּ֣ן
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- to play5
- playing an instrument2
- a musician1
- and he played1
- and he will play1
- musicians1
- playing1
- the musician1
- we will play1
- when played1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
All 15, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
14 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- מְנַגֵּ֥ן2
- הַֽמְנַגֵּ֔ן1
- וְנִגֵּ֥ן1
- וְנִגֵּ֣ן1
- כְּנַגֵּ֣ן1
- לְנַגֵּ֔ן1
- מְנַגֵּ֣ן1
- מְנַגֵּ֑ן1
- נַ֝גֵּ֗ן1
- נַ֠גֵּן1
- נַגֵּן֙1
- נַגֵּ֑ן1
and 2 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)4HVpcc
- verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singular4HVprmsa
- Hc/Vpq3ms2Hc/Vpq3ms
- preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)2HR/Vpcc
- the definite article (“the”) + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singular1HTd/Vprmsa
- verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common plural1HVpi1cp
- verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural1HVqrmpa
1 Samuel
seven uses
Let our lord command your servants here to seek out someone who can skillfully play the harp. Whenever the spirit of distress from God is upon you, he is to play it, and you will be well.”
- מְנַגֵּ֣ןmenagenverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: playing
- וְנִגֵּ֥ןvenigenHc/Vpq3mstagged: and he will play
And Saul commanded his servants, “Find me someone who plays well, and bring him to me.”
- לְנַגֵּ֔ןlenagenpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to play
One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a mighty man of valor, a warrior, eloquent and handsome, and the LORD is with him.”
- נַ֠גֵּןnagenverb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to play
And whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would pick up his harp and play, and Saul would become well, and the spirit of distress would depart from him.
- וְנִגֵּ֣ןvenigenHc/Vpq3mstagged: and he played
The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house while David played the harp as usual. Now Saul was holding a spear,
- מְנַגֵּ֥ןmenagenverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: playing an instrument
But as Saul was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, a spirit of distress from the LORD came upon him. While David was playing the harp,
- מְנַגֵּ֥ןmenagenverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: playing an instrument
2 Kings
three uses
But now, bring me a harpist.” And while the harpist played, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha
- מְנַגֵּ֑ןmenagenverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: a musician
- כְּנַגֵּ֣ןkenagenpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: when played
- הַֽמְנַגֵּ֔ןhamnagenthe definite article (“the”) + verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine singulartagged: the musician
Psalms
two uses
Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.
- נַ֝גֵּ֗ןnagenverb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to play
The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.
- נֹגְנִ֑יםnogenimverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: musicians
Isaiah
two uses
“Take up your harp, stroll through the city, O forgotten harlot. Make sweet melody, sing many a song, so you will be remembered.”
- נַגֵּן֙nagenverb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to play
The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
- נְנַגֵּ֛ןnenagenverb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common pluraltagged: we will play
Ezekiel
one use
Indeed, you are to them like a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, who skillfully plays an instrument. They hear your words but do not put them into practice.
- נַגֵּ֑ןnagenverb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to play
The letters
Gematria 103· 753 mispar gadol
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.