molten

(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.

huz'-ab (hutstsabh, only in Nahum 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.

Philip Wendell Crannell