Lexicon :: Strong's H5128 - nûaʿ

Now all the people witnessed the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountain; and as they looked, the people were afraid, and they trembled [and moved backward] and stood at a [safe] distance.

‘The virgin daughter of Zion

Has despised you and mocked you;

The daughter of Jerusalem

Has shaken her head behind you!

“I also could speak like you,

If you were in my place;

I could compose and join words together against you

And shake my head at you.

“He breaks open (mine) shafts far away from where people live,

[In places] forgotten by the [human] foot;

They dangle [in the mines] and hang away from men.

All who see me laugh at me and mock me;

They [insultingly] open their lips, they shake their head, saying,

Do not kill them, or my people will forget;

Scatter them and make them wander [endlessly] back and forth by Your power, and bring them down,

O Lord our shield!

They wander around for food [to devour]

And growl all night if they are not satisfied.

They staggered and trembled like a drunken man,

And were at their wits’ end [all their wisdom was useless].

Let his children wander and beg;

Let them seek their food and be driven far from their ruined homes.

I also have become a reproach and an object of taunting to others;

When they see me, they shake their heads [in derision].

So that she does not think [seriously] about the path of life;

Her ways are aimless and unstable; you cannot know where her path leads.

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([fn]a burden to be carried) concerning Egypt:

Listen carefully, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt;

The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence,

And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

The earth reels back and forth like a drunkard

And sways like a shack;

Its transgression lies heavily upon it,

And it will fall and not rise again.

Stop and take some time and wonder [at this prophecy],

Blind yourselves and be blinded [at its fulfillment by your spiritual incompetence].

They are drunk, but not from wine;

They stagger, but not from strong drink.

“She has shown contempt for you and mocked you,

The Virgin Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem);

She has shaken her head behind you,

The Daughter of Jerusalem!

Thus says the LORD to this people [Judah], “In the manner and to the degree [already pointed out] they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will now remember [in detail] their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

All who pass along the way

Clap their hands in derision at you;

They scoff and shake their heads

At the Daughter of Jerusalem, saying,

“Is this the city that was called

‘The perfection of beauty,

The joy of all the earth’?”

They wandered, blind, in the streets;

They were defiled with blood

So that no one could touch their garments.

Then behold, a hand touched me and set me unsteadily on my [fn]hands and knees.

“So [the people of] two or three cities would stagger into one city to drink water,

But would not be satisfied;

Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the LORD.

“People shall stagger from sea to sea [to the very ends of the earth]

And from the north even to the east;

They will roam here and there to seek the word of the LORD [longing for it as essential for life],

But they will not find it.

“For behold, I am commanding,

And I shall shake and sift the house of Israel among all nations [and cause it to tremble]

Like grain is shaken in a sieve [removing the chaff],

But not a kernel [of the faithful remnant] shall fall to the ground and be lost [from My sight].

All your fortresses are [nothing but] fig trees with ripe figs—

When shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater.

This is the joyous city

Which dwells carelessly [feeling so secure],

Who says in her heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

What a desolation she has become,

A lair for [wild] animals!

Everyone who passes by her will hiss [in scorn]

And wave his hand in contempt.