Hebrew word · H2479

חַלְחָלָה

chalchalah

anguish

From ḥîl / ḥûl, 'to writhe, twist, be in labor.' Repeating the syllable (ḥal-ḥāl-) gives an intensive, convulsive sense: 'violent trembling, writhing anguish.' It is used only four times: Isaiah 21:3; Ezekiel 30:4, 9; Nahum 2:10.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

pain, trembling, terror, writhing, anguish

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 Nahum 2:10

Range of meaning

From ḥîl / ḥûl, 'to writhe, twist, be in labor.' Repeating the syllable (ḥal-ḥāl-) gives an intensive, convulsive sense: 'violent trembling, writhing anguish.' It is used only four times: Isaiah 21:3; Ezekiel 30:4, 9; Nahum 2:10.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'much pain' / 'great pain,' ESV 'anguish,' BSB/NIV 'bodies tremble.' WEB folds this clause into 'their bodies and faces have grown pale' and so loses the writhing. None of the English versions brings out the labor-pain picture the word carries.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 21:3, on the fall of Babylon: 'my loins are filled with anguish (ḥalḥālāh); pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor.' The same pairing with 'loins' points to a fixed expression. The Greek Septuagint renders Nahum's word with ōdines, 'birth pangs,' which shows that ancient Jewish readers heard the childbirth image.

From the study of Isaiah 21:3

Range of meaning

Writhing, convulsive trembling, anguish. It is formed by doubling the root ḥ-l (as in ḥûl/ḥîl, 'to writhe, whirl, be in labor'). The doubling suggests repeated, spasmodic motion. It occurs only four times: Isa 21:3; Ezek 30:4, 9; Nah 2:10 [Heb. 2:11].

Against the English

'Pain' (KJV), 'anguish' (BSB, WEB, ESV), 'great pain' (YLT) and 'racked with pain' (NIV) all name the suffering. Only 'writhing' or 'convulsion' captures the motion, the body shaking uncontrollably.

Used elsewhere in the period

All four uses describe the terror a nation or its observers feel when judgment falls: Egypt and Cush in Ezekiel 30, Nineveh in Nahum 2, Babylon's fall here. The root ḥîl is the regular verb for labor pains (e.g., Isa 13:8; 26:17; 66:7–8), so the word already carries the childbirth picture the verse goes on to make explicit.

Similar words

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 21:3 חַלְחָלָ֔ה anguish

    Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.

    Here: A doubled-root word for convulsive trembling and writhing, the same family as the verb for a woman writhing in labor. It looks ahead to the birth-pang simile that follows.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 30:4 חַלְחָלָה֙ anguish

    A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down.

  2. Ezekiel 30:9 חַלְחָלָ֤ה anguish

    On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom. For it is indeed coming.

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 2:10 וְחַלְחָלָה֙ and anguish

    She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!

    Here: A doubled form of the root for writhing in labor pains. It means convulsive shaking or writhing anguish. The image is close to a woman in childbirth (compare Isaiah 21:3).

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