Hebrew word · H6375
פִּיק
ufik
tottering
pîq is found only here. It is from pûq, 'to totter, stagger, wobble' (Isaiah 28:7, of drunken priests 'tottering' in judgment; Jeremiah 10:4, of an idol that must be nailed down so it won't 'totter').
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
tottering, staggering, stagger, stumble
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
pîq is found only here. It is from pûq, 'to totter, stagger, wobble' (Isaiah 28:7, of drunken priests 'tottering' in judgment; Jeremiah 10:4, of an idol that must be nailed down so it won't 'totter'). So it means 'a tottering, a wobbling.' birkayim, 'knees,' stand for physical steadiness and power to stand or run.
- Against the English
KJV 'the knees smite together,' BSB/WEB 'knees knock (together),' NIV 'knees give way.' Both pictures, knocking and buckling, fall within 'tottering.' The Hebrew is a noun phrase ('a tottering of knees') rather than a verb, and keeps the exclamatory, snapshot style.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Daniel 5:6 (Aramaic) describes Belshazzar on the night Babylon fell: 'his knees knocked one against the other.' The setting is similar, another great Mesopotamian capital falling. Weak knees as a sign of terror also appear in Isaiah 35:3, Ezekiel 7:17 and 21:7, and Job 4:4.
Where it appears
Nahum · 1
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Nahum 2:10 וּפִ֣ק and [are] tottering
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
Here: Found only here, from a verb meaning 'to totter, wobble.' A noun: 'a tottering.' The legs no longer hold the body up.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.