1. please, I pray (particle of entreaty) — An enclitic particle of entreaty or exhortation, expressing polite request, urgent appeal, or rhetorical softening; typically untranslatable but rendered as 'please,' 'I pray,' 'now' in English. Extremely common in dialogue and prayer throughout the Hebrew Bible (Gen 12:11,13, 13:8,9, 15:5, 18:3,4,21,27,30,31,32, etc.). The three clusters represent the same particle: the main form (400x), a variant punctuation form (3x), and a ketiv reading (1x). Translations converge across languages: Spanish 'por favor,' Hindi कृपया (please), Arabic رَجَاءً (please), Korean 제발/부디 (please/I beg), Swahili tafadhali (please). No semantic distinction exists between the clusters. 404×
AR["الْآنَ","رَجاءً","رَجَاءً"]·ben["অনুগ্রহ","অনুগ্রহ-করে","দয়া-করে","শপথ"]·DE["doch"]·EN["please"]·FR["je-t'en-prie"]·heb["נא"]·HI["अब","कृपया"]·ID["(EMP)","sekarang"]·IT["prego"]·jav["mugi","sapunika"]·KO["부디","이제","제발"]·PT["agora","por-favor"]·RU["же","прошу"]·ES["por-favor"]·SW["sasa","tafadhali"]·TR["kırmızıdan","lütfen","şimdi"]·urd["اب","براہ-کرم","مہربانی"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
I. נָא part. of entreaty or exhortation, I (we) pray, now (enclitic) (Syriac ܢܺܐ, ܢܺܝ; cf. Ethiopic ነዒ: veni, age! Di§ 160. 1 Lex675 Köii. 244);—attached: 1. to the imv., especially in colloquial style, when it expresses an entreaty or admonition, as Gn 12:13 אִמְרִי־נָא say, I pray, 13:9 הִפָּרֶד־נָא מֵעָלַי, v 14 שָׂא־נָא עֵינֶיךָ, 15:5 הַבֶּט־נָא השׁמימה, 24:2 + often, Nu 20:10 שׁמעו־נא…