What Does Nahum 2:5 Mean?
He remembers his mighty ones, and they stumble in their walk. They hurry to her wall, and the covering is made ready.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared.THE KEY
The “defence” is literally a covering, so protection is a screen being raised while the defenders themselves are still stumbling.
THE MEANING
A threatened people calls its strongest defenders into motion, yet they stumble as they hurry to the wall and a covering is set in place. This is the exposed interval in a crisis: protection is being assembled while the people meant to hold it are already losing their footing.
THE ROOT
הַסֹּכֵךְ
ha-sōkhēkh
GROWS FROM
ס־כ־ך
s-k-k
סָכַךְ (sākhakh) means to cover, screen, or hedge in.
“covering” in this verse is ha-sōkhēkh. The word pictures a cover or screen, rather than defense as an abstract quality. Protection here is a physical layer hurried into place while the defenders’ footing is failing.
ALSO GROWS
sukkāh: Booth or shelter
סֻכָּה
A shelter is a covering, keeping the word’s concrete image of protection in view.
sākhakh: To cover or screen
סָכַךְ
This is the same verb behind “He shall cover thee” in Psalm 91:4, where covering becomes shelter beneath wings.
יִכָּשְׁלוּ
yikkāshəlū
GROWS FROM
כ־ש־ל
k-sh-l
כָּשַׁל (kāshal) means to stumble, totter, or falter.
“stumble” in this verse is yikkāshəlū. The root depicts a faltering step, and its related noun can name what trips the foot. Their movement is marked by broken footing even as they rush to prepare the covering.
ALSO GROWS
kāshal: To stumble or falter
כָּשַׁל
This verb supplies the verse’s image of defenders losing steadiness as they move.
mikhshōl: A stumbling block or obstacle
מִכְשׁוֹל
The related noun shows the root can describe either the faltering step or what obstructs it.
THE PATTERN
A threat exposes the difference between steady preparation and protection assembled in a rush.
You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you tore down the houses to fortify the wall.If you let your hands drop in the day of the narrow place, your strength is narrow.Or what king, going to clash with another king in war, does not first sit down and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?THE THREAD
He covers you with his feathers, and beneath his wings you take shelter; his steadiness is your shield and your encircling buckler.Nahum’s word for “defence” shares the סכך (s-k-k) root with “He shall cover thee.” In Nahum the covering is a screen being prepared amid stumbling; Psalm 91 uses the same root for shelter beneath wings.
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