Lexical Summary
naur: Youth, young man
Original Word:נָעוּר
Part of Speech:Noun Feminine
Transliteration:na`uwr
Pronunciation:naw-oor
Phonetic Spelling:(naw-oor')
KJV: childhood, youth
NASB:youth
Word Origin:[(properly) passive participle fromH5288 (נַעַר - young men) as denominative]
1. (only in plural collectively or emphatic form) youth, the state (juvenility) or the persons (young people)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
childhood, youth
Or naur {naw-oor'}; and (feminine) nturah {neh- oo-raw'}; properly, passive participle fromna'ar as denominative; (only in plural collectively or emphatic form) youth, the state (juvenility) or the persons (young people) -- childhood, youth.
see HEBREWna'ar
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom the same as
naarDefinitionyouth, early life
NASB Translationyouth (47).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
; — absolute
Isaiah 54:6;
Psalm 127:4; elsewhere suffix
1 Samuel 12:2,
Job 31:18 +,
2 Samuel 19:8,
Proverbs 5:18 +,
Jeremiah 2:2 +,
Psalm 103:5,
Ezekiel 23:3, etc.; —
youth, early life, especially in phrase
from one's
youth upGenesis 8:21 (J),
1 Samuel 17:33;
1 Kings 18:12;
Jeremiah 3:24;
Zechariah 13:5;
Job 31:18 (extreme youth; "" ); figurative of Babylon
Isaiah 47:12,15, Moab
Jeremiah 48:11, Judah
Jeremiah 22:21 compare
Psalm 71:5;
Psalm 71:17;
Psalm 129:1;
Psalm 129:2;
Genesis 46:34 (J),
2 Samuel 19:8;
Ezekiel 4:14;
1 Samuel 12:2;
Jeremiah 3:25; as time in or during which
Leviticus 22:13 (H),
Numbers 30:4;
Numbers 30:17 (P),
Lamentations 3:27;
Psalm 144:12, figurative of Judah and Samaria, personified,
Ezekiel 23:2,8; compare (in figurative of Israel)
Hosea 2:17 ("" ),
Ezekiel 16:22,43,60;
Ezekiel 23:19; other phrase are:
Jeremiah 3:4friend of my youth, compare
Proverbs 2:17,
Job 13:26,
Psalm 25:7,
Jeremiah 2:2,
Jeremiah 31:19,
Ezekiel 23:21,
Ezekiel 23:21,
Joel 1:8, and especially
Proverbs 5:18;
Malachi 2:14,15;
Isaiah 54:6 (figurative);
Psalm 127:4 sons of (a man's)
youth; =
youthful vigourPsalm 103:5.
[] id.; — onlyJeremiah 32:30 (figurative of nation).
Topical Lexicon
Semantic Range and Literary Roleנָעוּר (naʾur) designates the period of youth or early life, frequently linked with the pre-adult years. While other Hebrew terms emphasize vigor (בָּחוּר) or infancy (יֶלֶד), נָעוּר focuses on the formative span that shapes character, affections, and covenant identity. The word occurs in narrative, poetry, prophecy, and wisdom literature—nearly always with the preposition “from” (מִן), underscoring a starting point that influences later destiny.
Cultural and Historical Background
In ancient Israel the move from childhood toward adulthood was marked less by fixed ages than by communal expectations: learning Torah, acquiring a trade, and embracing covenant responsibilities. References to נָעוּר reveal assumptions that moral patterns, vocational skills, and spiritual loyalties established early would continue lifelong. Hence patriarchal narratives (Genesis 8:21), royal prayers (Psalm 71:5), prophetic indictments (Jeremiah 22:21), and personal laments (Job 31:18) all appeal to “youth” as the cradle of habit and hope.
Theology of Early Sinfulness
Genesis 8:21 sets the trajectory: “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” This universal verdict explains the repeated prophetic declarations that Judah’s idolatry had been “taught” to them “from their youth” (Jeremiah 2:20;Jeremiah 22:21). The doctrine of innate depravity is not located in infancy alone but in the dawn of moral consciousness—precisely the years indicated by נָעוּר. The consistent witness of Scripture ties early sinfulness to the consequent need for divine redemption.
Covenant Devotion Established in Youth
Contrasting the bent toward sin, the Lord recalls Israel’s early loyalty: “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love when you followed Me in the wilderness” (Jeremiah 2:2). The prophets wield נָעוּר both to indict present apostasy and to call the nation back to its first love.Psalm 71 twice magnifies the lifelong faithfulness of God to the psalmist:
•Psalm 71:5 “For You are my hope, O Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.”
•Psalm 71:17 “O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.”
These testimonies argue that gracious covenant formation begins early and is sustained by the same covenant Lord.
Formative Instruction and Discipleship
Job defends his integrity by appealing to consistent care for the needy “since my youth” (Job 31:18). Likewise,Psalm 119:9 instructs, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.” Each passage assumes that moral instruction must root itself in youth to bear mature fruit. Ministry application naturally flows: families, congregations, and leaders are charged to disciple children so that Scripture saturates thought and practice before competing allegiances take hold.
Patterns of Lifelong Worship
Several texts link early life with habitual worship.2 Samuel 7:18 records David’s humble astonishment before the Lord, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?”—a journey that began “from following the sheep” in his youth (implicit in2 Samuel 7:8). Similarly the Levitical service ofPsalm 71 testifies that liturgical fidelity can stretch unbroken from youth to old age. Churches therefore invest in age-appropriate worship training, expecting that early praise will echo into elder testimony.
Marriage, Widowhood, and Social Status
Isaiah 54:6 comforts post-exilic Zion with the image of a wife “rejected and grieved in spirit, like a wife married in youth only to be rejected.” The phrase evokes the vulnerability of young brides who depended on male provision.Proverbs 5:18 rejoices in “the wife of your youth,” urging covenant faithfulness amid sexual temptation. These passages highlight societal structures where youth often marked pivotal life decisions—marriage, inheritance, vocational apprenticing—whose covenantal implications Scripture addresses directly.
Divine Discipline and Parental Training
The repeated warning that stubbornness arises “from youth” (Jeremiah 32:30) undergirds the biblical rationale for parental discipline (Proverbs 22:6). God Himself models corrective love: “You have struck them, but they felt no pain… yet they have stiffened their necks.” The prophetic chorus shows the Lord chastening Israel as a Father disciplines a son, aiming at repentance rather than destruction.
Eschatological Hope
Though many texts spotlight early sin, others look forward to covenant renewal that reverses youthful folly.Zechariah 8:5 envisions Jerusalem’s streets filled with “boys and girls playing,” a restored youth freed from the ancestral sins of the exile.Joel 2:28 promises that the Spirit will be poured out on “sons and daughters,” indicating that the same demographic once marked by rebellion will become a fountain of prophecy. נָעוּר thus threads from primeval fallenness to eschatological redemption.
Representative Occurrences
•Genesis 8:21
•Genesis 46:34
•1 Samuel 12:2
•2 Samuel 7:8
•Job 13:26;Job 31:18
•Psalm 25:7;Psalm 71:5, 17
•Isaiah 54:6
•Jeremiah 2:2, 20;Jeremiah 22:21;Jeremiah 32:30
•Zechariah 13:5
Ministry Implications
1. Evangelism and Catechesis: Because moral and spiritual trajectories develop “from youth,” evangelistic urgency toward children and adolescents is biblically justified.
2. Family Worship: Parents bear primary responsibility for modeling covenant loyalty, anticipating that the Lord remembers both sins and devotion formed early.
3. Pastoral Counseling: Passages that confess “sins of my youth” (Psalm 25:7) provide language for repentance over formative transgressions that still haunt adults.
4. Intergenerational Fellowship: Testimonies likePsalm 71 reveal the beauty of saints who have walked with God from youth, furnishing living apologetics for God’s sustaining grace.
5. Social Justice: Job’s lifelong care for the fatherless “from my youth” suggests that practical mercy is part of mature godliness, reinforcing diaconal ministries.
Summary
נָעוּר captures the impressionable years in which sin’s roots take hold yet also when covenant grace may lay foundations for lifelong faithfulness. Scripture remembers both the corruption that issues “from youth” and the devotion first kindled in that season. The Church, therefore, is summoned to steward these years through gospel proclamation, robust discipleship, and holistic care, confident that the God who calls in youth preserves unto old age.
Forms and Transliterations
בִּֽנְעוּרֵ֫יהֶ֥ם בִּנְעֻרֶ֖יהָ בִּנְעֻרֶֽיהָ׃ בִּנְעוּרֵיהֶ֖ן בִּנְעוּרָֽיו׃ בִנְעוּרֶ֔יהָ בנעוריה בנעוריהם בנעוריהן בנעוריו׃ בנעריה בנעריה׃ הַנְּעוּרִֽים׃ הנעורים׃ כִּנְעוּרֶ֔יהָ כנעוריה מִ֭נְּעוּרַי מִנְּעֻרֶ֖יךָ מִנְּעֻרַ֖י מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו מִנְּעֻרָֽי׃ מִנְּעֻרָֽיו׃ מִנְּעֻרֹֽתֵיהֶ֑ם מִנְּעוּרֵ֑ינוּ מִנְּעוּרֵ֖ינוּ מִנְּעוּרֵ֣ינוּ מִנְּעוּרַ֑י מִנְּעוּרַ֔יִךְ מִנְּעוּרַ֗יִךְ מִנְּעוּרַ֣י מִנְּעוּרָ֑י מִנְּעוּרָ֑יִךְ מִנְּעוּרָ֗יו מִנְּעוּרָֽי׃ מנעורי מנעורי׃ מנעוריו מנעוריך מנעורינו מנערי מנערי׃ מנעריו מנעריו׃ מנעריך מנערתיהם נְעֻרַ֖י נְעוּרִ֛ים נְעוּרֶ֑יהָ נְעוּרֶ֔יהָ נְעוּרֶ֖יךָ נְעוּרֶ֗יךָ נְעוּרֶֽיהָ׃ נְעוּרֶֽךָ׃ נְעוּרַ֔יִךְ נְעוּרַ֨י ׀ נְעוּרָ֑יִךְ נְעוּרָֽיְכִי׃ נְעוּרָֽיִךְ׃ נְעוּרָֽי׃ נעורי נעורי׃ נעוריה נעוריה׃ נעוריך נעוריך׃ נעוריכי׃ נעורים נעורך׃ נערי bin‘ūrāw bin‘urehā ḇin‘ūrehā bin‘ūrêhem bin‘ūrêhen bin·‘ū·rāw bin·‘u·re·hā ḇin·‘ū·re·hā bin·‘ū·rê·hem bin·‘ū·rê·hen binuRav binuReiha binuReiHem binureiHen han·nə·‘ū·rîm hannə‘ūrîm hanneuRim kin‘ūrehā kin·‘ū·re·hā kinuReiha min·nə·‘ū·ra·yiḵ min·nə·‘ū·rā·yiḵ min·nə·‘u·rāw min·nə·‘ū·rāw min·nə·‘u·ray min·nə·‘u·rāy min·nə·‘ū·ray min·nə·‘ū·rāy min·nə·‘u·re·ḵā min·nə·‘ū·rê·nū min·nə·‘u·rō·ṯê·hem minnə‘urāw minnə‘ūrāw minnə‘uray minnə‘urāy minnə‘ūray minnə‘ūrāy minnə‘ūrayiḵ minnə‘ūrāyiḵ minnə‘ureḵā minnə‘ūrênū minnə‘urōṯêhem minneuRai minneuRav minneuRayich minneuReicha minneuReinu minneuroteiHem nə‘uray nə‘ūray nə‘ūrāy nə‘ūrāyəḵî nə‘ūrayiḵ nə‘ūrāyiḵ nə‘ūrehā nə‘ūreḵā nə‘ūrîm nə·‘ū·rā·yə·ḵî nə·‘ū·ra·yiḵ nə·‘ū·rā·yiḵ nə·‘u·ray nə·‘ū·ray nə·‘ū·rāy nə·‘ū·re·hā nə·‘ū·re·ḵā nə·‘ū·rîm neuRai neuRayechi neuRayich neuRecha neuReicha neuReiha neuRim vinuReiha
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