Hebrew word · H4127

מוּג

namogu

to melt

To melt, dissolve, flow away, totter. Figuratively, to lose courage, faint, fall apart from fear or weakness.

Appears 17 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to melt, cause to melt

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to melt, faint

1a2) to cause to melt

1b) (Niphal) to melt away

1c) (Polel) to soften, dissolve, dissipate

1d) (Hithpolel) to melt, flow

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 Isaiah 64:7

Range of meaning

To melt, dissolve, flow away, totter. Figuratively, to lose courage, faint, fall apart from fear or weakness.

Against the English

The ESV and YLT keep 'melt'. The KJV and WEB say 'consumed', which keeps the idea of destruction but loses the picture of dissolving. The BSB, NIV and NASB follow the ancient versions with 'delivered/given us over', a different verb (see textual notes).

Used elsewhere in the period

Ex 15:15, the inhabitants of Canaan 'melted away' in fear. Josh 2:9, 24. Ps 46:6, 'the earth melts' at God's voice. Ps 107:26, sailors' souls 'melted' in the storm. Amos 9:5, God touches the earth and it melts. Nah 1:5. Usually what melts is enemies or the earth before God's appearing.

From the study of Amos 9:13

Range of meaning

To melt, soften, dissolve, waver, sway. It is used of courage melting in fear (Exod 15:15; Josh 2:9, 24), of the earth or hills melting before God's appearing (Ps 46:6; Nah 1:5), and of the ground softened by rain (Ps 65:10). The reflexive-intensive form used here (Hitpolel) suggests dissolving, flowing or running down.

Against the English

KJV: 'all the hills shall melt'. NASB: 'dissolved'. ESV and BSB: 'flow (with it)'. NIV and WEB restructure the sentence so the wine flows 'from the hills'. A reader of the KJV can easily hear meltdown and destruction, which is the opposite of the meaning here.

How it drifted

The English 'melt' is strongly associated with fire, heat and catastrophe, especially in end-times language such as 2 Peter 3:10–12.

Used elsewhere in the period

Amos 9:5 uses the same verb for judgment: 'the Lord GOD of hosts, who touches the earth and it melts (wattāmôg)'. Nahum 1:5 has 'the hills melt (hitmōgāgû)' before God's wrath, in the same Hitpolel form. Psalm 65:10 uses the root for rain softening the soil so that it yields crops.

From the study of Amos 9:5

Range of meaning

To melt, dissolve, flow. Also to waver, totter, lose cohesion (HALOT gives 'to sway, totter' alongside 'melt'). It is often used of courage collapsing: Exod 15:15, 'all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away'; Josh 2:9, 24.

Against the English

Nearly all versions say 'melts'. KJV's 'shall melt' makes it future. The Septuagint uses 'shaking' (saleuōn), which reads the verb as heaving or tottering rather than turning liquid.

How it drifted

English 'melt' suggests heat, like ice or wax. The Hebrew picture is broader: losing firmness, dissolving, giving way. Here it is linked to rising and sinking, so it is closer to ground losing its solidity in a quake than to rock turning to lava.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 46:6: 'he utters his voice, the earth melts' (same verb). Nah 1:5: 'the hills melt'. Ps 75:3: 'the earth and all its inhabitants totter/melt'. Compare Mic 1:4 (a different verb: mountains melt like wax).

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 15:15 נָמֹ֕גוּ they have melted away

    Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,

    Here: 'They have melted.' This is the standard Hebrew image for courage dissolving, hearts turning to water (compare Josh 7:5). It does not mean they physically disappeared or fled. Rahab repeats this exact phrase in Josh 2:9.

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 2:9 נָמֹ֛גוּ they have melted away

    and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you.

    Here: 'Have melted.' Their courage and resolve have dissolved like wax or soft ground in rain. The word echoes Exodus 15:15 almost exactly.

  2. Joshua 2:24 נָמֹ֛גוּ they have melted away

    “The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 14:16 נָמ֖וֹג it melted away

    Now when Saul’s watchmen at Gibeah in Benjamin looked and saw the troops melting away and scattering in every direction,

Job · 1

  1. Job 30:22 וּ֝תְמֹגְגֵ֗נִי and you dissolve me

    You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 46:6 תָּמ֥וּג it melted

    Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

    Here: 'It melts' or 'it dissolves'. The ground loses its solidity, and the same verb is used for courage melting away in terror. The tense changes here, which gives a sense of immediate result: he speaks, and the earth melts.

  2. Psalm 65:10 תְּ֝מֹגְגֶ֗נָּה you soften it

    You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth.

  3. Psalm 75:3 נְֽמֹגִ֗ים [are] melting away

    When the earth and all its dwellers quake, it is I who bear up its pillars. Selah

    Here: A passive participle, meaning an ongoing state: the earth is 'melting', going soft and losing its firmness. Placed first in the line for emphasis, it pictures the world coming apart. The same verb is used for people melting with terror before God.

  4. Psalm 107:26 תִתְמוֹגָֽג׃ it melted

    They mounted up to the heavens, then sunk to the depths; their courage melted in their anguish.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 14:31 נָמ֖וֹג melt away

    Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

  2. Isaiah 64:7 וַתְּמוּגֵ֖נוּ and you have melted us

    No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

    Here: In the Hebrew as it stands: 'and you made us melt', meaning dissolve, lose all strength, waste away. Ancient translations read a very similar verb meaning 'and you handed us over' (see textual notes).

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 49:23 נָמֹ֑גוּ they will melt away

    Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.

    Here: 'They have melted.' This is the stock Hebrew picture of courage dissolving under terror, used of the Canaanites before Israel (Josh 2:9, 24). The supplied gloss 'will melt' gives the future sense, but the form is a perfect: the panic is pictured as already happening.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 21:15 לָמ֣וּג to melt

    So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

Amos · 2

  1. Amos 9:5 וַתָּמ֔וֹג and it melted

    The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—

    Here: The ground loses its firmness: it dissolves, heaves, gives way. Elsewhere the same verb describes hearts 'melting' in terror (Josh 2:9, 24). The form usually tells a story in the past, but here it follows the hymn's participle and gives the result whenever God touches.

  2. Amos 9:13 תִּתְמוֹגַֽגְנָה׃ they will flow with [it]

    “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow.

    Here: 'They will melt / dissolve / run.' The verb form pictures the hills going soft and running down, here with juice. Only eight verses earlier (9:5) the same verb described the earth 'melting' when God touched it in judgment. Now the melting is abundance. The Hebrew has no word for 'with it'; translations add it.

Nahum · 2

  1. Nahum 1:5 הִתְמֹגָ֑גוּ they melt

    The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.

    Here: 'They melt / come apart.' The verb covers dissolving, softening, washing loose and swaying, and it is often used of courage 'melting' in panic. The hills lose their firmness and give way.

  2. Nahum 2:6 נָמֽוֹג׃ it has melted away

    The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.

    Here: 'Has melted, has dissolved, has gone soft and given way.' The verb describes solid things losing their shape, such as hills in a theophany (an appearance of God) or courage in panic. For a palace built of mud brick it is close to literal: brick turning back into mud. It also repeats Nahum 1:5, where the hills 'melt' before the LORD.

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