נָכֵא

From the study of Proverbs 15:13

Range of meaning

Stricken, smitten, beaten down. It comes from a root meaning to strike or scourge. It is a rare word, used almost only in Proverbs, in the set phrase ruach nekhe'ah, "stricken spirit".

Against the English

"Broken" (KJV, WEB) and "crushed" (BSB) are both reasonable. YLT's "smitten" keeps the picture of a blow best.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 15:13; 17:22 ("a stricken spirit dries up the bones"); 18:14 ("a stricken spirit, who can bear it?"). Related forms appear in Isaiah 16:7 ("utterly stricken") and Job 30:8 (people "scourged out of the land").

From the study of Proverbs 17:22

Range of meaning

Nakhe' / nekhe'ah means 'stricken, smitten, beaten down'. It is related to the root nakah, 'to strike'. Proverbs uses the phrase ruach nekhe'ah three times: 15:13 ('by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed'), 17:22, and 18:14 ('a crushed spirit, who can bear?'). Isaiah 16:7 uses the related plural for people utterly stricken in mourning.

Against the English

KJV, NASB, BSB and NLT: 'broken spirit'. NIV, ESV and WEB: 'crushed spirit'. YLT: 'smitten spirit'. 'Crushed' or 'smitten' keeps the picture of being struck down. 'Broken spirit' sounds like Psalm 51:17, where 'a broken spirit' (ruach nishbarah) is the humble repentance God accepts.

How it drifted

Christian devotional language rightly treasures Psalm 51:17's 'broken spirit' as a virtue. Using the same English for this verse invites readers to blend two different Hebrew phrases with opposite effects.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 15:13 and 18:14 in the same collection. The Septuagint here turns it into 'the bones of a grieving (lypērou) man dry up', which reads the phrase as grief or sorrow. Ben Sira, a Jewish wisdom book of about 180 BC, develops the same idea: 'sorrow has destroyed many' (Sirach 30:23).

From the study of Proverbs 18:14

Range of meaning

'Stricken, smitten, beaten'. It comes from a root meaning 'strike, whip' (the passive form in Job 30:8 describes outcasts 'whipped out of the land'). The related form in Isa 16:7 describes people 'utterly stricken'.

Against the English

KJV 'wounded' and YLT 'smitten' keep the picture of a blow. ESV/NIV/NLT/WEB 'crushed' is close. BSB/NASB 'broken' is accurate in itself but can sound like the 'broken spirit' of Psalm 51:17, which is a different idea (see drift).

How it drifted

Devotional language of 'brokenness' as a virtue, drawn from Ps 51:17, gets carried over to every 'broken spirit' in English Bibles.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase ruach nekhe'ah appears only in Proverbs, three times: 15:13 ('by sorrow of heart the spirit is stricken'), 17:22 ('a stricken spirit dries up the bones'), and here. In all three it means dejection that does harm, and its opposite is a glad heart.