Hebrew word · H5327

נָצָה

nitzim

to struggle

A rare verb meaning 'to fall in ruins, be laid waste'. Elsewhere it appears in 2 Kgs 19:25 / Isa 37:26, of fortified cities 'crashing into ruined heaps' under Assyria. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) separate this verb from a look-alike nāṣâ meaning 'to struggle, fight'.

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to struggle

1a) (Niphal) to struggle

1b) (Hiphil) to struggle

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 Jeremiah 4:7

Range of meaning

A rare verb meaning 'to fall in ruins, be laid waste'. Elsewhere it appears in 2 Kgs 19:25 / Isa 37:26, of fortified cities 'crashing into ruined heaps' under Assyria. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) separate this verb from a look-alike nāṣâ meaning 'to struggle, fight'.

Against the English

English versions agree on 'laid waste' or 'ruins'. The Hebrew picture is walls and houses collapsing into rubble heaps.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closely parallel Jer 2:15 has a near-identical sound with a different meaning: 'his cities are burned' (from yāṣat, 'to kindle'; the written and read forms differ there). Some scholars connect the two verses by sound. The Septuagint here has 'will be pulled down', and the Vulgate vastabuntur, 'will be laid waste'.

From the study of 2 Samuel 14:6

Range of meaning

In this two-way form it means 'to struggle with each other, come to blows, brawl'. It describes a fight between people, never a planned attack on someone who is not expecting it.

Against the English

'Fighting' (BSB), 'strove together' (KJV), 'fought together' (WEB) all work. 'Strove' sounds old and a bit abstract today, but Hebrew means a physical fight.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 2:13 (two Hebrew men fighting, as Moses sees); Exod 21:22 ('when men fight' and hit a pregnant woman); Lev 24:10 (a fight in the camp); Deut 25:11 ('when men fight together, a man and his brother'). Except for Exod 2, these are case-law settings that begin 'when men fight...'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 2:13 נִצִּ֑ים [were] struggling together

    The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”

  2. Exodus 21:22 יִנָּצ֣וּ they will struggle together

    If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows.

    Here: A two-sided brawl, men grappling with each other, as with the two Hebrews in Exod 2:13. The setting is a fight, not a planned attack on the woman.

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 24:10 וַיִּנָּצוּ֙ and they struggled together

    Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite.

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 26:9 הִצּ֜וּ בְּהַצֹּתָ֖ם they struggled, when struggled they

    and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. It was Dathan and Abiram, chosen by the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron with the followers of Korah who rebelled against the LORD.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 25:11 יִנָּצ֨וּ they will be struggling together

    If two men are fighting, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 14:6 וַיִּנָּצ֤וּ and they struggled together

    And your maidservant had two sons who were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him.

    Here: A two-way form meaning 'grappled, came to blows'. It is the verb Israel's case law uses for a brawl between men (Exod 21:22; Deut 25:11), so the story starts out sounding like a legal case put before the king.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 19:25 נִצִּ֖ים ruined

    Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.

Psalms · 1
Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 37:26 נִצִּ֖ים ruined

    Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.

    Here: 'Ruined', a passive participle describing the heaps: wrecked, desolate rubble. Gallîm niṣṣîm ('ruined heaps') is a harsh, alliterative pair.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 4:7 תִּצֶּ֖ינָה they will fall in ruins

    A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.

    Here: 'Will fall in ruins': a rare verb for walls and buildings collapsing into heaps. The verb changes from completed action (the lion has set out) to future (the cities will fall).

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