Hebrew word · H1238

בָּקַק

bokek

to empty

To empty out, pour out, lay waste or devastate (a land, a vine, a city). The image is a vessel drained of its contents, or a country stripped bare (Isa 24:1, 3; Nah 2:2; Hos 10:1).

Appears 9 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to empty

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to empty, lay waste

1a2) to make void (fig.)

1b) (Niphal) to be emptied

1c) (Polel) to empty out, devastate

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jeremiah 19:7

Range of meaning

To empty out, pour out, lay waste or devastate (a land, a vine, a city). The image is a vessel drained of its contents, or a country stripped bare (Isa 24:1, 3; Nah 2:2; Hos 10:1).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say 'make void,' which is abstract and legal-sounding. BSB and NIV say 'ruin.' Both get the outcome right, but neither keeps the picture of pouring something out, or the sound-link to the jar.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB list the root for 'emptying' and 'devastating.' Isaiah 24:1 uses it for the earth being emptied out. Jeremiah 51:2 uses the same root for foreigners who 'empty out' Babylon's land. Commentators (Holladay, Lundbom) widely note that in this chapter it echoes baqbuq, 'flask' (19:1, 10). The jar's name probably imitates the gurgle of liquid poured from a narrow neck.

From the study of Hosea 10:1

Range of meaning

Two roots look the same in Hebrew. (1) baqaq I, 'to empty out, lay waste, devastate' (Isaiah 24:1, 3; Jeremiah 51:2; Nahum 2:2 [Eng. 2:2–3], 'emptiers have emptied them'). (2) baqaq II, 'to grow luxuriantly, spread out abundantly', supported by an Arabic word used of plants growing thick. BDB and HALOT both list Hosea 10:1 under the second root.

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'empty vine'. Most modern versions have 'luxuriant' (BSB, WEB, ESV, NASB), 'spreading' (NIV) or something similar. These are opposite pictures: a bare vine or an overgrown one.

How it drifted

The KJV translators followed an interpretation going back to medieval Jewish commentators, who took the word from the familiar root 'to empty'. That root really exists and is common, so the reading was not careless. But it pulls against the rest of the verse, which goes on about how much fruit there was.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint (3rd–2nd c. BC) translates it ampelos euklēmatousa, 'a vine with fine, flourishing branches'. Jerome's Latin Vulgate has vitis frondosa, 'a leafy vine'. Both of the oldest translations understood abundance. Some interpreters have suggested Hosea meant both: a lush vine that will be stripped bare (compare 10:7–8, 14). The text does not require this, and it stays a possibility rather than a proven pun.

From the study of Isaiah 19:3

Range of meaning

To empty out or pour out, and so to lay waste or strip bare. It is used of a land emptied of people and goods (Isa 24:1, 3; Nah 2:2 [Eng. 2:2–3]) and of plans made void (Jer 19:7). It is related to baqbuq, 'flask, jug' (Jer 19:1), so the picture of a vessel poured out sits close by.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'shall fail' gives the result but loses the picture. BSB, ESV and YLT keep 'emptied out'. NIV and NLT ('lose heart') make it a psychological statement, which is fair but flattens the image of something drained.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah 19:7 is the closest parallel: 'I will empty out (uvaqqoti) the counsel (atsat) of Judah', which uses the same verb with the same noun 'counsel' as here. The Greek Septuagint renders it 'will be troubled' (tarachthēsetai), and the supplied contextual gloss 'disturbed' follows that interpretive line.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 19:3 וְנָבְקָ֤ה and it will be disturbed

    Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

    Here: "And it will be emptied out": a passive form picturing Egypt's spirit drained like a jar poured out until nothing is left. The verb is used elsewhere for a land stripped bare (Isa 24:1, 3) and for God 'emptying' Judah's counsel (Jer 19:7).

  2. Isaiah 24:1 בּוֹקֵ֥ק [is] about to lay waste

    Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—

    Here: 'Emptying': pouring out or stripping something until nothing is left in it. It is a participle (a verb form for action in progress), so the emptying is pictured as under way or about to happen.

  3. Isaiah 24:3 הִבּ֧וֹק׀ תִּבּ֛וֹק certainly <to be laid waste>, it will be laid waste

    The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 19:7 וּ֠בַקֹּתִי and I will make void

    And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

    Here: God pours out Judah's plans like liquid emptied from a jar. The word sounds like baqbuq, the clay flask Jeremiah is carrying (19:1) and will smash (19:10), so the sound itself acts out the threat. The verb form is future: 'I will empty.'

  2. Jeremiah 51:2 וִיבֹקְק֖וּ and they may lay waste

    I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 10:1 בּוֹקֵק֙ luxuriant

    Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.

    Here: An active participle (an ongoing state): a vine that grows thick and spreads wide, throwing out leaves and branches. Older English versions took it from a second root that sounds the same and means 'to empty' (hence KJV's 'empty vine'). The ancient translations and the rest of the verse point to abundance.

Nahum · 2

  1. Nahum 2:2 בְקָקוּם֙ בֹּֽקְקִ֔ים they have laid waste to them, [those who] lay waste

    For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.

    Here: 'They have emptied them out.' The picture is of something drained or gutted, like a jar poured out or a land stripped of people and goods. The 'them' refers to Jacob/Israel.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.