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First available on November 24, 2007

nâzal 'to flow'

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	Author Bio
	Jonathan Went teaches biblical Hebrew and Jewish background to Christianity. His "Biblical Hebrew made easy" course can be found at www.biblicalhebrew.com. He specialises in Hermeneutics, Judaica and Patristics (Early Church). He is the editor of the new Hebraic Roots journal, Roots and Branches (www.rootsandbranchespress.com) and also runs www.BMSoftware.com a biblical and multilingual software site.

The word nÓzÒl nâzal (Strong's #5140, x16) "flow, pour, gush, drop, trickle", is hardly a trickle in its first use. In Exodus 15:8 the Song of Moses describes how the waters of the Red Sea were stood upright in a heap, not even a trickle seeping forth!

In another song, that of Deborah, Judges 5:5, the mountains are said to "gush, melt, quake, shake" before the Lord, depending upon the translation - which clearly influence each other. The Greek Septuagint uses "shake, stir up", one can't imagine mountains trickling ... perhaps they metaphorically went "weak at the knees", with all their solid strength turned to water, a phrase used in Ezekiel 7:17, "all knees will become like water". Only Young's Literal translation tried to preserve the verb's intent with "Hills flowed from the face of Jehovah".

nÓzÒl nâzal is twice paralleled with the rarer rF)Av râ‘aph (Strong's #7491, x5) "to drip/drop", which usually seems to mean gentle dripping when referring to dew, but with respect to the clouds opening, or metaphorically in Isaiah's salvation and righteousness, it seems to allow for an abundant pouring forth, for one would not expect God's deliverance to be a mere trickle.

"Drop down (rF)Av râ‘aph), heavens, from above,
 and let the skies pour down (nÓzÒl nâzal) righteousness;
 let the earth open, and bring forth salvation..." (Isaiah 45:8)

"Which the clouds drop down (nÓzÒl nâzal)
 And pour (rF)Av râ‘aph) on many men" (Job 36:28)

Some translations render the word rAb rabh (Strong's #7227, x458) as "abundantly" in relation to the verbal "pouring" but it actually comes at the end of the sentence following the word "men" and the Greek Septuagint and JPS versions seem preferable to the KJV, NKJ, NIV, NRS et al in reading "great many multitudes of men".

nÓzÒl nâzal is once paralleled with the even rarer verb )FrAv ‘âraph (Strong's #6201, x2) "to drop, descend" which is only used in two places, exclusive to Deuteronomy:

"Let my teaching drop ()FrAv ‘âraph) as the rain, my speech distill (nÓzÒl nâzal) as the dew,
 As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass." (Deuteronomy 32:2)

The use of words for young and tender herbs and grasses suggests an element of gentle dripping, pouring forth, rather than a weighty downpour that would crush the plants. nÓzÒl nâzal seems, therefore, to be more than a trickle, but less than a flood, despite Isaiah 44:3's rendering as "floods", when "streams" would be more appropriate. Although, Jeremiah 9:18 uses nÓzÒl nâzal of tears, which admittedly in English we might render as "floods of tears".

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