What Does Nahum 3:14 Mean in the King James?
Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The commands to fortify the strongholds and make the brickkiln strong repeat the same Hebrew root, so defense reaches from the city’s boundary to the material it builds with.
THE MEANING
You stand inside a siege: draw water, strengthen the fortresses, tread clay into mortar, and strengthen the brickkiln. The same verb reaches from the fortresses to the means of construction, making defense a demand on every layer of the city. The words carry urgency without promising that the work can stop what is coming.
THE ROOT
חַזְּקִי
ḥazzəqî
GROWS FROM
חזק
Be strong; strengthen; hold fast.
“fortify / make strong” in this verse is ḥazzəqî. Both commands come from חזק: the first is directed toward the strongholds, the second toward the brickkiln. The root also carries the sense of taking hold, so the separate English words hide one effort to hold the city together under pressure.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong, firm.
חָזָק
This adjective names the state the command seeks for the fortresses.
heḥĕzîq: Strengthen, take hold, hold fast.
הֶחֱזִיק
This form echoes the command to strengthen the brickkiln, extending the same root from the defenses to the work of construction.
THE PATTERN
Under threat, people reinforce structures and prepare for survival, yet human construction cannot guarantee that the boundary will hold.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.THE THREAD
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.The same book that directs you to strengthen your strongholds names the LORD as a strong hold in trouble. The echo shifts attention from how much you can reinforce to what holds you when pressure arrives.
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