Bible Dictionary
Huzzab
Huzzab is a difficult term in Nahum’s prophecy. It may be a proper name, perhaps referring to a queen or to Nineveh personified, or it may mean something established or decreed.
Definition
Huzzab is a difficult term in Nahum’s prophecy. It may be understood as a proper name referring to a queen or as a personification of Nineveh. Other interpretations render it as something fixed, established, or decreed, while some understand it as describing a palace being dissolved.
Biblical Usage
Huzzab occurs only in Nahum’s prophecy. Its interpretation affects the description of the palace, royal personage, or Nineveh in the passage concerning the city’s discomfiture.
Historical Background
The supplied material notes uncertainty in the Hebrew form and vocalization. Proposed explanations include a verb meaning “flow,” a verb meaning “fix,” and a name or noun referring to an Assyrian queen or to Nineveh.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(fixed), according to the general opinion of the Jews, was the queen of Nineveh at the time when Nahum delivered his prophecy. (Nahum 2:7) (B.C. about 700.) The moderns follow the rendering in the margin of our English Bible—“that which was established.” Still it is not improbable that after all Huzzab may really be a proper name. It may mean “the Zab country,” or the fertile tract east of the Tigris, watered by the upper and lower Zab rivers.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>huz'-ab (hutstsabh, only in Na 2:7 the King James Version and the Revised Version margin): Its meaning is doubtful. According to Gesenius, it is a verb, Hoph. of tsabhabh, "flow," hence, to be rendered with preceding verse, "The palace is dissolved and made to flow down." Wordsworth made it Pual of natsabh, "fix": "The palace is dissolved, though established." Septuagint renders with the next word, he hupostasis apokaluphthe, "The foundation (or treasure) is uncovered." the King James Version, the Revised Version margin and the American Standard Revised Version text make it Hoph. of natsabh, "fix," hence, "It is decreed." Perhaps more probably, with the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) text and the American Revised Version margin, it is a name, or noun with the article (or the corruption of such a word), referring either to the Assyrian queen, or personifying Nineveh. No such queen is now known, but Assyriology may throw light. The "name" interpretation accords best with the general trend of the passage, which describes the discomfiture of a royal personage. BDB calls it "perhaps textual error." The Massoretic vocalization may be at fault.</p><p>Philip Wendell Crannell</p>