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 from H5288 (נַעַר - young men) as denominative]

1. (only in plural collectively or emphatic form) youth, the state (juvenility) or the persons (young people)

childhood, youth

Or naur {naw-oor'}; and (feminine) nturah {neh- oo-raw'}; properly, passive participle from na'ar as denominative; (only in plural collectively or emphatic form) youth, the state (juvenility) or the persons (young people) -- childhood, youth.

see HEBREW na'ar

Word Origin
from the same as naar
Definition
youth, early life
NASB Translation
youth (47).

נְעוּרִים noun [masculine] plural youth, early life; — absolute ׳נ Isaiah 54:6; Psalm 127:4; elsewhere suffix נְעֻרַי 1 Samuel 12:2, נְעוּרַי Job 31:18 +, נְעֻרֶיךָ 2 Samuel 19:8, נְעוּרֶיךָ Proverbs 5:18 +, נְעוּרַיִךְ Jeremiah 2:2 +, נְעוּרָ֑יְכִי Psalm 103:5, נְעוּרֵיהֶן Ezekiel 23:3, etc.; — youth, early life, especially in phrase ׳מִנּ from one's youth up Genesis 8:21 (J), 1 Samuel 17:33; 1 Kings 18:12; Jeremiah 3:24; Zechariah 13:5; Job 31:18 (extreme youth; "" מִבֶּטֶן אִמִּי); 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; וְעַדעַֿתָּה ׳מִנּ Genesis 46:34 (J), 2 Samuel 19:8; Ezekiel 4:14; וְעַדהַֿיּוֺם הַזֶּה ׳מִנּ 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 ׳יְמֵי נ (in figurative of Israel) Hosea 2:17 ("" יוֺם עֲלוֺתָהּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם), Ezekiel 16:22,43,60; Ezekiel 23:19; other phrase are: ׳אַלּוּף נ Jeremiah 3:4 friend of my youth, compare Proverbs 2:17, ׳עֲוֺנוֺת נ Job 13:26, ׳חַטּאֹות נ Psalm 25:7, ׳חֶסֶד נ Jeremiah 2:2, ׳חֶרְמַּת נ Jeremiah 31:19, ׳זִמַּת נ Ezekiel 23:21, ׳שְׁדֵי נ Ezekiel 23:21, ׳בַּעַל נ Joel 1:8, and especially ׳אֵשֶׁת נ Proverbs 5:18; Malachi 2:14,15; Isaiah 54:6 (figurative); ׳בְּנֵי נ Psalm 127:4 sons of (a man's) youth; = youthful vigour Psalm 103:5.

[נְעוּרוֺת] noun [feminine] plural id.; — only מִנְּעֻרֹתֵיהֶם Jeremiah 32:30 (figurative of nation).

Semantic Range and Literary Role

נָעוּר (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 in 2 Samuel 7:8). Similarly the Levitical service of Psalm 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 like Psalm 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.

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 vinuReihaInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts