5053. nogah

Lexical Summary

nogah: Brightness, radiance, light

Original Word: נֹגַהּ
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: nogahh
Pronunciation: no-gah
Phonetic Spelling: (no'-gah)
KJV: morning
NASB: break of day
Word Origin: [(Aramaic) corresponding to H5051 (נוֹגַהּ - brightness)]

1. dawn

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

morning

(Aramaic) corresponding to nogahh; dawn -- morning.

see HEBREW nogahh

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
(Aramaic) corresponding to nogah
Definition
brightness, daylight
NASB Translation
break of day (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

[נ֫גַהּ] noun [feminine] brightness, daylight (ᵑ7 Syriac; Biblical Hebrew id.); — emphatic בְּנָגְהָא (K^{§ 54} c), 1) Daniel 6:20.

Topical Lexicon

Definition and Overview

Strong’s Hebrew 5053, נֹגַהּ (nogah), designates the first faint light of dawn. Its lone Old Testament occurrence marks a precise moment when darkness yields to the promise of a new day.

Textual Context

Daniel 6:19 records: “At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions.”
• The verb sequence (“got up and hurried”) is tied to nogah, underscoring urgency and expectation.
• Night has just ended—a night in which Daniel’s fate seemed sealed—yet the dawn reveals God’s preserving power.

Historical Background

Daniel 6 takes place under the Medo-Persian empire. Royal edicts were considered irrevocable (Daniel 6:8). By referencing the daybreak, the text stresses that the king kept vigil all night, constrained by his own law yet hoping against hope. In Near-Eastern culture, official business commonly resumed at dawn; thus the king’s immediate action accents his distress and Daniel’s influence upon him.

Theological Significance

1. Transition from Darkness to Deliverance
• The narrative pairs the darkness of the lions’ den with the light of nogah, picturing God’s salvation “from darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
2. Affirmation of Divine Sovereignty
• The immutable Persian statute collapses before the higher decree of heaven, manifested literally at first light.
3. Hope Renewed
• Psalm 30:5 states, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Nogah embodies that principle in concrete history.

Intertextual Themes and Cross-References

While 5053 appears only in Daniel 6:19, Scripture frequently employs dawn imagery:
• Exodus 14:27 – deliverance at daybreak at the Red Sea.
• Lamentations 3:22-23 – mercies “new every morning.”
• 2 Peter 1:19 – the prophetic word shines “until the day dawns.”

Together these passages weave a canonical motif: God often times rescue with the morning light, linking physical dawns to spiritual revelation.

Christological Foreshadowing

The pattern culminates in the resurrection, announced “very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise” (Mark 16:2). Nogah thus prefigures the empty tomb: divine vindication manifested at dawn.

Practical Ministry Applications

• Pastoral Counsel – Encourage believers enduring “night seasons” that God’s intervention may emerge at His appointed “first light.”
• Worship and Liturgy – Dawn prayers and sunrise services can anchor congregations to biblical precedent.
• Evangelism – Nogah offers a visual metaphor for the gospel: the Light of the world breaking into human darkness (John 8:12).

Conclusion

Though occurring only once, נֹגַהּ carries rich narrative and theological weight, illustrating the steadfast pattern of Scripture: God’s faithfulness shines brightest at the turning of the dawn.

Forms and Transliterations

בְּנָגְהָ֑א בנגהא bə·nā·ḡə·hā benageHa bənāḡəhā

Englishman's Concordance

Daniel 6:19
HEB: בִּשְׁפַּרְפָּרָ֖א יְק֣וּם בְּנָגְהָ֑א וּבְהִ֨תְבְּהָלָ֔ה לְגֻבָּ֥א
NAS: at dawn, at the break of day, and went
KJV: very early in the morning, and went
INT: dawn arose the break haste den

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 5053
1 Occurrence

bə·nā·ḡə·hā — 1 Occ.