נָא
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Possible Meanings
The word נָא appears over 400 times in Tanakh. In almost all cases it means either please or now, and it is often ambiguous as to which of these meanings any given verse takes.1 In at least one verse, a third meaning has been suggested, raw or broken.
1. Please
- Biblical verses – The vast majority of cases can easily sustain this meaning. In several instances, its appearance together with the word עַתָּה would seem to eliminate the alternate possibility of explaining נָא as now, as this would create a redundancy.2
- Additional data –
2. Now
- Biblical verses – Possibly Bereshit 12:11, 18:21, 27:2, Shemot 3:3, 11:2, Bemidbar 12:13, 20:10, Eikhah 5:16, and many others. In each of these verses, the context might argue against an understanding of please.
- Additional data –
3. Raw
- Biblical verses – Possibly Bereshit 25:30, Shemot 12:9.
- Additional data –
Disputed Cases
Bereshit 12:11
- Please – As Avram is simply stating a fact, it would seem difficult to understand the phrase as a plea, "Please, behold, I know you are beautiful." BDB, though suggests, that the phrase הִנֵּה נָא is used when one is "craving a favourable consideration of the fact pointed to by הִנֵּה, and of the request founded upon it (with which נא is often repeated)." According to this, Avram is asking that Sarai please pay attention to this fact as a request is predicated upon it.
- Now – Bava Batra 16a, Tanchuma (Warsaw) Lekh Lekha 5, Rashi, Radak. Although all of these commentators agree that the word נָא means now, not all agree in their understanding of the verse itself. While the Gemara, Midrash and Rashi suggest that until this point Avram had never recognized Sarai's beauty (and only now does he see it), Radak suggests that this is simply דרך הלשון, pointing to other similar cases of "הִנֵּה נָא" which aren't trying to emphasize immediacy.3
- Figure of speech – R. Saadia.4
Bereshit 25:30
Bereshit 27:2
- Please – Rashbam.
- Now – Ibn Ezra.
Shemot 11:2
- Please – Bavli Berakhot 9a, Rashi, Ran, R. Hirsch.7
- Now – Ibn Janach Sefer HaShorashim s.v. "נא", Ibn Ezra Bereshit 12:11 and Short Commentary Shemot 11:2, R"Y Bekhor Shor, R. Avraham b. HaRambam Bereshit 48:9 and Shemot 11:2 (possibly citing R. Saadia).
Shemot 12:9
Bemidbar 12:13
- Please – Many assume that the double "נָא" is simply a sign of great submissiveness before Hashem.
- Now – R. Yonah ibn Janach suggests that the first "נָא" of the verse means please, while the second means now. Moshe is not simply being polite, but rather asking that Hashem save Miriam right away.10