Forgiven — Psalm 32:1 • Strong's H5375

April 15, 2026 Word Study

Word Study: "Forgiven" (נָשָׂא / Nasa)

Psalm 32:1 • Strong's H5375

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Today's Revelations

Nasa doesn't mean "to pardon" in a legal sense — it literally means "to lift," "to bear," or "to carry away," painting a vivid picture of the active removal of a crushing, unbearable weight. Unlike salah (legal pardon) or kaphar (covering), nasa is a physical verb.

The original Israelite audience heard nasa and immediately pictured the Yom Kippur scapegoat — the ritual where the live goat literally "carried away" (nasa) the crushing weight of the community's guilt into the uninhabited wilderness, removing the burden from the camp forever.

Nasa means the weight didn't just disappear — it was transferred to a bearer who carried it away, making biblical forgiveness fundamentally different from casual excusing. Excusing implies it doesn't matter; carrying it away implies it matters immensely but the cost has been actively absorbed.

John 1:29 directly echoes this image when John the Baptist declares, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" — the Greek airo carries the same physical lifting as the Hebrew nasa. 1 Peter 2:24 makes it explicit: Christ "himself bore our sins in his body on the cross."

Understanding nasa reframes forgiveness from an abstract legal transaction into a felt, experiential reality — if God has already lifted it, picking it back up is refusing the gift. Forgiveness isn't pretending the sin didn't happen; it's trusting that a Bearer has already carried it away forever.

The Bottom Line: "David didn't describe forgiveness as a legal pardon or a casual dismissal — he used nasa, the Hebrew word meaning to physically lift, bear, and carry away, the same word used when the Yom Kippur scapegoat hauled the weight of Israel's guilt into the wilderness and when John the Baptist declared Jesus the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world — because biblical forgiveness never means the offense didn't matter; it means the crushing weight has been actively transferred to a Bearer who carried it away forever, and if God has already lifted it, picking it back up is refusing the gift."

📖 Word Study: נָשָׂא (H5375)

Unlike other biblical words for forgiveness that emphasize a legal pardon (salah) or a covering/appeasement (kaphar), nasa possesses a highly physical flavor. It literally means "to lift," "to bear," or "to carry away." Forgiveness paints a vivid picture: the active lifting and removal of a crushing, unbearable weight from the offender. The original Israelite audience would immediately associate nasa with the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) scapegoat, which literally carried away the community's guilt into the wilderness. Understanding forgiveness as nasa shifts it from a cold legal transaction to an experiential reality — the burden has been entirely lifted off your shoulders.

💡 Biblical Insight

Excusing a wrong implies it does not matter; carrying it away implies that it matters immensely but the heavy weight has been actively transferred. Leviticus 16:21-22 describes the Day of Atonement scapegoat carrying sins to a remote place. John 1:29 uses the Greek airo — "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." 1 Peter 2:24 says Christ "bore our sins in his body on the cross." Just as God absorbs the cost of sin to remove it, human forgiveness often requires the wronged party to voluntarily absorb the emotional or practical cost rather than demanding exact payback. You consciously "carry away" the demand for vengeance.