to smite
na.khah denotes striking in battle or direct violence, including blows that kill, defeat, wound, or punish.
The verb most often describes striking enemies in warfare, whether an opposing force, a city, or a named opponent. It also occurs for direct blows against a person, animal, or object, and in contexts where the blow brings death, wounds, disease, or divine punishment.
Senses in use
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Strike in battle or attack · dominant
In 1 Chronicles 18:1 and 1 Chronicles 18:5, Hiphil sequential imperfect forms describe David's action against the Philistines and men of Aram; the APB renders the clauses "David struck the Philistines" and "David struck twenty-two thousand men in Aram." The same military use appears when each side strikes its opponent in 1 Kings 20:20 and when Jehu's men are commanded to strike down the worshipers of Baal in 2 Kings 10:25.
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Deliver a direct violent blow · common
The term marks a direct action against an individual or animal in 1 Samuel 17:35, where David recounts striking an animal before killing it. In 1 Samuel 18:11, the first-person imperfect expresses Saul's intended blow with a spear, while 1 Samuel 2:14 uses a Hiphil sequential perfect for striking a fork into vessels.
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Strike as punishment or inflict injury · occasional
In 1 Chronicles 13:10, a Hiphil sequential imperfect describes the LORD's action against Uzzah, and the APB renders that he "struck him down" so that he died. In 1 Kings 14:15 the announced striking of Israel is followed by uprooting and scattering, while 1 Samuel 5:12 has a Hophal perfect for men who were struck with tumors.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly uses "struck" or "struck down," and sometimes frames the result as defeat, killing, wounds, or tumors. Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, those renderings show the clauses' outcomes rather than a fixed English equivalent.