Hebrew word · H4128

מוד

vaymoded

to shake

Two roots are possible. (1) מוד, 'to sway, shake', which is rare in Hebrew. HALOT lists this sense for this verse and supports it with an Arabic cognate, māda, 'to sway, quake'.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Polel) to shake

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 Habakkuk 3:6

Range of meaning

Two roots are possible. (1) מוד, 'to sway, shake', which is rare in Hebrew. HALOT lists this sense for this verse and supports it with an Arabic cognate, māda, 'to sway, quake'. (2) מדד, 'to measure', which is common: measuring land, measuring out portions, surveying with a line (Zech 2:1–2; Ps 60:6, 'I will measure out the Valley of Succoth', where God divides up land as its owner).

Against the English

KJV, BSB and ESV say 'measured'. NASB has 'surveyed'. NIV, NRSV, WEB and NLT have 'shook/shakes'. 'Measured' pictures a calm surveyor sizing up the territory he will hand out. 'Shook' pictures an earthquake. These are very different images.

How it drifted

No drift in the usual sense: the choice depends on which root you identify. 'Measured' came into English through the Latin Vulgate ('mensus est') and Jewish interpretive tradition.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has 'the earth was shaken' (ἐσαλεύθη), which supports 'shake'. The Vulgate and the Targum tradition support 'measure'. Theophany texts (descriptions of God appearing) regularly have the earth quaking when God comes (Judg 5:4; Ps 18:7; Ps 68:8). Ugaritic poetry likewise has the earth trembling when the storm-god Baal thunders.

Where it appears

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:6 וַיְמֹ֣דֶד and he shook

    He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.

    Here: Either 'and he shook (the earth)' or 'and he measured (the earth)'. Its pairing with 'made the nations jump' favours 'shook', but ancient tradition is split (see debates). Either way, God's standing still is enough to act on the whole earth.

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