“Forgive” means: to Carry, Lift, or Take Away

When I think of the word “forgive,” I think of

“You wronged me, but I won’t hold it against you.”

While there’s plenty of truth to that, the Hebrew word for forgive is so much richer. It actually has 3 ways of being defined, which paints a fuller picture.

nasa (verb)

1. to lift, lift up
2. to bear, carry, support, sustain, endure
3. to take, take away, carry off, forgive

Let’s break it down.

1. “To Lift”

To forgive someone is to “lift” a weight off of the other person’s shoulders. They might feel bad about wronging you, but forgiving them lifts that guilt off. After wronging you, they might feel indebted to you, like they owe you something to make things right. To forgive them is to lift their debt off the their shoulders. It says, “You don’t have to do anything to make things right again—I already view us as being in good standing.”

It also lifts that actual person up. It elevates them from “someone who wronged you” to “a normal person.”

2. “To Bear, Carry, Endure”

To forgive someone is more than just lifting a burden off of someone else’s shoulders—it then “bears” the weight on your own shoulders. It volunteers to “carry” the damage caused by the other person instead of forcing them to pay you back or make things right. Forgiving someone who wronged you is painful. It takes a strong person to “endure” the destruction caused by the other person.

3. “To Take, Take Away, Carry Off”

To forgive someone is to “take” the responsibility for the other person’s costly mistake. It “takes away” the heaviness from the person in the wrong. It takes all the negative aspects of their mistake and then “carries it away” so they don’t have to worry about it.

Conclusion

I love this deeper way of defining “forgiveness,” and it perfectly describes the way Jesus forgave us. We’ve all made mistakes, but Jesus lifts the weight of them off our shoulders, willingly puts it onto His own shoulders, and carries it away so we never have to worry about it again.