Things That I Used To Do

1412 נָקָה (nāqâ) be clear, free, innocent, desolate, cut off.

Derivatives

1412a נָכִי (nākî) clear, innocent.
1412b נָקִיא (nāqîʾ) innocent (Joel 4:19; Jon 1:14).
1412c נִקָּיוֹן (niqqāyôn) innocency.
1412d מְנַקִּייָה (mĕnaqqîyâ) sacrificial cups, bowls.

The derivative mĕnaqqîyâ may provide the key to the basic sense of the verb nāqâ. GB and KB tie it to Akkadian naqû “offer a libation” (plus Syriac noun “libation”) and BDB cites the Syriac verb “pour out, make a libation” and suggests that while the Arabic cognate means “cleanse,” the original sense was probably “empty out,” hence the uses “pour” and “be empty, clean.”
The root nāqâ with the meaning “to be clean, pure, spotless” is found in Akkadian, Arabic and Aramaic. In Dan 7:9 [Aramaic] the Ancient of Days is described as having hair “like pure (nĕqēʾ) wool.” The derived juridical notion “to be acquitted,” “to go unpunished” is found only in Hebrew.
From the basic notion “to be poured out” the word may derive notions with either favorable or unfavorable connotations. It has an unfavorable connotation in Isa 3:26 “deserted she [the daughter of Zion] will sit on the ground.” The RSV change of the poetic figure from “deserted”/ “desolate” to “ravaged” is an overtranslation and destroys the imagery. The reference is to a city having been emptied of its inhabitants. (See also Amos 4:6 where the substantive niqyôn is used for “cleanness of teeth,” a figure for lacking food.) Here too we should discuss Joel 3:21 [H 4:21]. Surprisingly the NASB, which otherwise slavishly follows MT, emends this passage against G.R. Driver and C. van Leeuwen. Driver renders the verse: “And I will pour out its blood, which until now I have not poured out” (JThSt 39:402). NTV: “Blood which I have not pardoned I will pardon.” After considering other options C. van Leeuwen concluded: “In any case the text ought not to be emended to niqqamtî [I will be avenged] (against BHS and KBL 632b), a reading, not presupposed by the LXX” (THAT, 11, p. 102).
Otherwise the word evokes favorable connotations. It may be used to denote freedom from an oath. Thus Abraham says to Eliezer: “But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath” (Gen 24:8; cf. Josh 2:17, 20 where the adjective is used with the same notion).
Of the forty occurrences of this verb the vast majority have an ethical, moral, or forensic connotation. The fact that in the Piel (transitivizing) stem it is synonymous with ṣādaq Piel or Hiphil (which see) should bear adequate testimony to its significance. nāqâ is found only once in the Qal stem (an infinitive absolute modifying a Niphal), otherwise it is exclusively in the Niphal or Piel. This tends to reenforce the analysis: “poured out, emptied” yields “be freed, cleared, cleansed, innocent.”
A political use of this word, namely, freedom or exemption from some obligation such as military service (Deut 24:5), serves to sharpen its forensic sense of being freed from punishment. A husband is declared free from iniquity if, in declaring his wife unfaithful, he follows the legal procedures before the priest (Num 5:31).
This passage is instructive for it shows that nqh is the opposite of ʿāwōn (q.v. “guilty”). The passage reads: “He shall be free from guilt (wĕniqqâ … mēʿāwōn) but that woman will bear her guilt.” In other passages, however, ʿāwōn is omitted. Thus Samson says after his father-in-law has given his wife away to another man: “This time I will be blameless [niqqêtî]” (Judg 15:3).
Just as ʿāwōn may refer to the act of sin, the punishment for the sin, or the state between the act and the punishment “guilt,” so also nāqâ can refer to the release from the state between the implied wrong and punishment=“guiltless, innocent” or to the release from punishment=“go unpunished.” As an example of the first, in addition to Num 5:31 and Judg 15:3, we may cite II Sam 14:9; “And the woman of Tekoa said, ”O Lord, the king, the iniquity [heʿāwōn] is on me and my father’s house, but the king and his throne are guiltless [adj. nāqî]. As an example of the latter note: “whoever touches her [a neighbor’s wife] will not go unpunished” [yinnāqeh] (Prov 6:29; cf. 19:5, 9; 28:20). Likewise Ex 21:19 legislates—“that when two men fight and the one struck is still able to walk, then he who struck him shall go unpunished [wĕniqqâ].” (The adjective may have this same force; cf. “the owner of the ox shall go unpunished [nāqî]” (Ex 21:28). The word is sometimes negativized, of course, yielding a strong reprimand: “the wicked shall not be unpunished” (Prov 11:21), or used in interrogation: “should ye be utterly unpunished?” (Jer 25:29).
The release from obligation or from guilt/punishment [adjective or Niphal of nāqâ] is often presented as determined by [min] the lord. Thus, the release of the Transjordanian tribes from military service after the Conquest is said to be “free of obligation before the lord” (wihĕyîtem nĕqiyyîm mē YW)“ (Num 32:22). So also the lord alone is able to free one from an oath made in His name (Josh 2:17–19). With respect to the blood of Abner, David declares: ”I and my kingdom are innocent before the lord [nāqî mēʿim YW] (II Sam 3:28; cf. I Sam 26:9). In many passages the min is omitted but the thought remains the same. In Prov 16:5 “he [the proud] will not go unpunished” is parallel to “an abomination to the lord” (cf. Prov 11:21; 17:5). The point is underscored in Jer 2:35 where Judah claimed innocence [niqqêtî], but since this was not God’s verdict he will enter into judgment with her. In all these passages the verdict belongs to the lord and he works out the course of judgment in the destiny of those under his jurisdiction.
In the case of the Piel nqh it is always (with the exception of I Kgs 2:9) the lord who is the subject. Thus he is the one addressed in petitions for acquittal (e.g. “Acquit me of hidden faults” (Ps 19:12 [H 13], or the One who does not leave the sinner unpunished (Ex 20:7; 34:7; Jer 30:11; 46:28; Job 9:28).
Likewise, in the case of the adjective when it means “innocent” it is God who assumes responsibility for the guiltless. Thus he holds himself responsible for innocent blood (Deut 19:10, 13; II Kgs 24:4; Jer 2:34f; 19:3f; 22:3ff; passim). Job, however, in a trough of pessimism, observes that God destroys the innocent with the guilty (Job 9:23).
Not only may the sinner himself be cleansed, freed of guilt, acquitted or held innocent, but a place may be purged of the evil found in it. The ‘cutting off’ of liars and perjurers from the land spoken of in the vision of the flying roll (Zech 5:3) would amount to a purging or cleansing of the land from evil.
Perhaps the most highly technical of all uses of this expression is in regard to freedom or exemption from the obligations of an oath (Gen 24:8, 41) or from the effects of the curse inherent in the trial of an accused woman, in which she is required to drink the bitter water offered by the priest (Num 5:19).

נָקִי (nāqî), נָקִיא (nāqîʾ). Blameless, innocent, guiltless, free, exempted, clean (of hands). (Both ASV and RSV use “guiltless” three times in Josh 2 for KJV sequence “blameless, guiltless, quit.” RSV also employs “free” for “clear” and “free of obligation to” for “guiltless before” in Num 32:22.
The adjective nāqî and its variant nāqîʾ refer to persons declared innocent, free, or exempt from charges or obligations, or to innocent blood (that is, shed blood of an unoffending or innocent party), as well as ‘clean hands,’ a figure for innocent behavior. (See the familiar Ps 24:4.)
It has the notion of freedom/exemption from an obligation in the legislation for the newly married man: “He will be free from military service” (Deut 24:5). Regarding Asa’s proclamation that Ramah must be dismantled none was exempt from the labor (I Kgs 15:22). It denotes freedom from slavery in Gen 44:10 where Joseph warned: “With whom [the stolen cup] is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be free or innocent. (The technical term for freedom from slavery is ḥopšî.)
Otherwise the adjective has the juridical notion of “guiltless, blameless, innocent” (Job 4:7; 27:14; passim). Its use alongside of the “righteous” is especially effective in Ex 23:7; “ … the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.” Cf, the great declaration of God’s character in similar terms in Ex 34:7. One speaks of “the blood of the innocent” [dam hannāqî] or (mostly) of “innocent blood” [dam nāqî] where a guiltless people are threatened with intentional homicide or murder (Deut 27:25; I Sam 19:5) or in cases where their life is actually taken (Deut 19:13; II Kgs 21:16; 24:4; passim). Sometimes it is not clear whether the innocent are being threatened or have been killed (Deut 19:10). (For bloodguilt see dām).
nāqî in contrast to ṭāhar “to be pure” is not a cultic term; e.g. it is never found in the book of Leviticus. The “clean hands” in Ps 24:4 speak of ethical purity and hence juridical acquittal. The nominal form niqqāyôn may have a cultic sense in Ps 26:6 because of the parallel line “I will go about Thine altar, O LORD.” But the same expression in Ps 73:13 denotes ethical purity.

נִקָּיוֹן (niqqāyôn). Innocency, cleanness (of teeth). Strongest of the five occurrences is Hos 8:5. God taunts the rulers of idolatrous Israel (“Samaria”), asking when and how they will ever manage innocency. The figurative “cleanness of teeth” (Amos 4:6) implies a want of food to eat. Remaining instances speak of “innocency of hands” or of “washing hands in innocency”—ceremonial purification representative of a pure heart and honest conduct.

מְנַקִּייָה (mĕnaqqîyâ). The mĕnaqqîyâ was apparently a golden bowl (some say “dipper” or “tube”) placed on the table of showbread and used for the drink offering. It was important enough to be listed in Jer 52:19 as being taken to Babylon. For this last item. see James L. Kelso, The Ceramic Vocabulary of the OT, New Haven: ASOR, 1948 (section 54, p. 24).

Bibliography: Richardson, TWB, pp. 114, 127. THAT, II, pp. 101–105.
M.C.F. and B.K.W.

Fisher, M. C., & Waltke, B. K. (1999). 1412 נָקָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (596–598). Chicago: Moody Press.