Hebrew word · H5310
נָפַץ
nafatz
to shatter
To shatter, dash to pieces, scatter. In the intensive piel form it means violent, complete smashing: jars (Jer 13:14, 'I will dash them one against another'), infants against rock (Ps 137:9), nations by God's war-club (Jer 51:20–23, repeated nine times).
Appears 22 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to shatter, break, dash, beat in pieces
1a)(Qal)
1a1) to shatter
1a2) shattering (infinitive)
1b) (Piel) to dash to pieces
1c) (Pual) to pulverise
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
- Range of meaning
To shatter, dash to pieces, scatter. In the intensive piel form it means violent, complete smashing: jars (Jer 13:14, 'I will dash them one against another'), infants against rock (Ps 137:9), nations by God's war-club (Jer 51:20–23, repeated nine times).
- Against the English
KJV has 'dash in pieces' and BSB 'shatter'. Both are faithful.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Jer 51:20–23 is the closest parallel: God's human 'war-club' shatters nations, kingdoms, horse and rider. Judg 7:19–20 uses it for smashing jars.
From the study of Jeremiah 13:14
- Range of meaning
Two related senses are listed in the standard Hebrew dictionaries (BDB, HALOT): (1) to shatter or smash, especially pottery and other breakable things; (2) to scatter or disperse, as peoples spreading out over the earth (Gen 9:19) or troops slipping away (1 Sam 13:11). The intensive form used here usually means violent smashing.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB and YLT have 'dash'. BSB has 'smash'. Both catch the violence. Older Latin-based tradition went with 'scatter' instead (see textual notes).
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ps 2:9: 'you will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel'. Jer 48:12: Moab's wine jars will be smashed (the same verb with the same word for 'jar', nevel). Jer 51:20–23 repeats this verb nine times: 'with you I shatter nations…'. Ugaritic and later Aramaic have related words for breaking.
From the study of Isaiah 11:12
- Range of meaning
Lexicons separate two roots spelled n-p-ts. One means "shatter, smash" (Jer 13:14; Ps 2:9). The other means "scatter, disperse" (Gen 9:19, the whole earth populated from Noah's sons; 1 Sam 13:11, troops slipping away). This passive participle belongs to the second: "those who have been scattered." It is feminine plural here.
- Against the English
BSB "scattered", KJV/WEB "dispersed", YLT "scattered". All accurate. No English version shows the feminine form, which the supplied interlinear marks as "[women]".
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Greek Septuagint renders it with a form of diaspeirō ("scatter abroad"), the root of the later word "diaspora" for Jews living outside the land. Older commentators such as Delitzsch read the masculine "driven-away ones" and the feminine "scattered ones" as covering both sexes.
Where it appears
Genesis · 1
-
Genesis 9:19 נָֽפְצָ֥ה <it> dispersed
These three were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated.
Judges · 1
-
Judges 7:19 וְנָפ֥וֹץ and they smashed
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.
Here: "And smashing!" Hebrew uses an unconjugated verb form here as a vivid continuation of "they blew," as if snapping straight to the next action. The verb means violent shattering, the word used for dashing pottery to bits (Ps 2:9).
1 Samuel · 1
-
1 Samuel 13:11 נָפַ֨ץ it was scattered
“What have you done?” Samuel asked. And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash,
1 Kings · 1
-
1 Kings 5:9 וְנִפַּצְתִּ֥ים and I will break up them
My servants will haul the logs from Lebanon to the Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate the logs, and you can take them away. And in exchange, you can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”
Psalms · 2
-
Psalm 2:9 תְּנַפְּצֵֽם׃ you will smash them
You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
Here: 'You will smash them to pieces.' This is the intensive form of the verb (the piel), meaning to shatter completely into fragments. It completes the parallel with the first verb and closes God's speech that began in verse 7.
-
Psalm 137:9 וְנִפֵּ֬ץ and he will smash
Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
Isaiah · 3
-
Isaiah 11:12 וּנְפֻצ֤וֹת and [the] scattered [women] of
He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Here: "And the scattered ones of." The form is feminine plural. Set against the masculine "driven-away ones", the pair most likely means "men and women alike", that is, everyone.
-
Isaiah 27:9 מְנֻפָּצ֔וֹת pulverized
Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
Here: 'Smashed to pieces', the verb used for shattering pottery. The altars are not just closed but pulverized, so they cannot be rebuilt.
-
Isaiah 33:3 נָפְצ֖וּ they scatter
The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise.
Jeremiah · 12
-
Jeremiah 13:14 וְנִפַּצְתִּים֩ and I will smash them
I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”
Here: 'And I will smash them.' This is the intensive form of the verb, used for breaking pottery to pieces. It carries on the picture from vv. 12–13: the people are wine jars filled with drunkenness, and now God breaks the jars.
-
Jeremiah 22:28 נָפ֗וּץ smashed
Is this man Coniah a despised and shattered pot, a jar that no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they do not know?
Here: 'Shattered, broken to pieces.' A cracked pot was useless and got thrown out. Jeremiah uses the same verb for God smashing his people like jars (13:14).
-
Jeremiah 48:12 יְנַפֵּֽצוּ׃ they will smash
Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will send to him wanderers, who will pour him out. They will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.
-
Jeremiah 51:20 וְנִפַּצְתִּ֤י and I smash
“You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin.
Here: 'And I shatter' (or 'I will shatter', 'I keep shattering'). God is the subject. The verb echoes the noun mappēṣ, so the shatterer does the shattering in God's hand. The verb form usually points to future or repeated action, and the verse does not mark it as a single act in the past.
-
Jeremiah 51:21 וְנִפַּצְתִּ֣י וְנִפַּצְתִּ֣י and I smash
With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver.
-
Jeremiah 51:22 וְנִפַּצְתִּ֤י וְנִפַּצְתִּ֥י וְנִפַּצְתִּ֣י and I smash
With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the maiden.
-
Jeremiah 51:23 וְנִפַּצְתִּ֤י וְנִפַּצְתִּ֥י וְנִפַּצְתִּ֣י and I smash
With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials.
Here: An intensive form of the verb meaning to smash something so that it flies apart, the way a clay jar is dashed to pieces. 'I' is God. The verb picks up the noun 'war club' (mappēṣ) from v. 20, which comes from the same root: the club does what its name says.
Daniel · 1
-
Daniel 12:7 נַפֵּ֥ץ to smash
And the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, and times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people has finally been shattered, all these things will be completed.”
Here: 'Smashing to pieces', the word used for dashing pottery (Jer 13:14; Ps 2:9). KJV's 'scatter' comes from a second, rarer sense of the root ('disperse', Gen 9:19) and from the Latin Vulgate.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.