Hebrew word · H5014

נָבַב

nevuv

be hollow

Literally 'hollowed out', the form of a verb meaning 'to be hollow'. It describes an object with a cavity or empty interior. Used of a person, as here, it means empty of understanding, an 'empty-head'.

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

What it means

1) (Qal) to hollow out

1a) hollowed (participle)

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 Job 11:12

Range of meaning

Literally 'hollowed out', the form of a verb meaning 'to be hollow'. It describes an object with a cavity or empty interior. Used of a person, as here, it means empty of understanding, an 'empty-head'.

Against the English

KJV 'vain', WEB 'empty-headed', BSB and NIV 'witless', ESV 'stupid', NASB 'idiot', YLT 'empty'. 'Empty' and 'empty-headed' keep the picture. 'Stupid' and 'idiot' keep the insult but lose the image, and they sound like comments on mental ability. 'Vain' now misleads, because it suggests conceit.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'vain' follows the Latin vanus ('empty'), and in 1611 English 'vain' could still mean empty or worthless. Since then the word has shifted toward self-admiration.

Used elsewhere in the period

It occurs only four times in the Hebrew Bible. Three are physical: the altar of burnt offering, built 'hollow, of boards' (Exodus 27:8; 38:7), and the bronze temple pillars, hollow inside (Jeremiah 52:21). Job 11:12 is the only use for a person. The Septuagint's Exodus passage renders it with a Greek word for 'hollow'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 27:8 נְב֥וּב hollow of

    Construct the altar with boards so that it is hollow. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

  2. Exodus 38:7 נְב֥וּב hollow of

    Then he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. He made the altar with boards so that it was hollow.

Job · 1

  1. Job 11:12 נָ֭בוּב hollow

    But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

    Here: A physical word used as an insult: a man with nothing inside, like a boxed-in frame. It describes someone empty of sense, and it says nothing about vanity in the modern sense.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 52:21 נָבֽוּב׃ hollow

    Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall and twelve cubits in circumference; each was hollow, four fingers thick.

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