רַ֫עַל

From the study of Zechariah 12:2

Range of meaning

Reeling, staggering, swaying. The noun appears only here. The related verb describes something shaken or brandished: in Nahum 2:3 [Heb 2:4] spears or cypress shafts 'are brandished/quiver'. A related noun means fluttering veils (Isa 3:19). The closely related noun tarʿēlāh means 'staggering', in 'the cup of staggering' (Isa 51:17, 22) and 'wine of staggering' (Ps 60:3 [Heb 60:5]).

Against the English

KJV 'trembling' sounds today like shaking with fear. Modern versions say 'reeling', 'staggering', 'drunkenness' (BSB), which is closer. The movement is the lurching of someone intoxicated, not the shiver of someone frightened.

How it drifted

In 1611 'trembling' could describe any shaking or tottering motion, the way the KJV also speaks of the earth trembling. Today the word means mainly fear or nervousness, so the drunkenness image has dropped out for modern readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 51:17, 22 (kôs hattarʿēlāh, 'cup of staggering', which Jerusalem has drunk and which God now takes from her and gives to her tormentors); Ps 60:3; Nah 2:3. The wider motif: Jer 25:15–29; 49:12; Hab 2:16; Ps 75:8; Ezek 23:31–34; Obad 16; Lam 4:21. It carries on into Rev 14:10 and 16:19.