נוּד
nud
to wander
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
SupportedThe Hebrew word 'nud' (H5110), meaning "to wander," appears 24 times in the Bible. Its primary significance lies in its connotation of movement without a fixed destination or purpose. In this sense, 'nud' often describes individuals or groups that are lost, directionless, or uncertain about their future. The usage of 'nud' is diverse, encompassing both literal and figurative wanderings. In some instances, it refers to physical movement, such as migration or drifting aimlessly (e.g., Numbers 10:5). In other cases, 'nud' implies a more emotional or spiritual disorientation (e.g., Isaiah 40:27). The word's range of application underscores its association with uncertainty, instability, and a lack of clear direction. The frequency and varied usage of 'nud' highlight its importance in the biblical narrative. As a word that captures the complexities of human movement and the human experience of uncertainty, 'nud' offers insights into the biblical authors' understanding of the human condition. It underscores the idea that movement and change can be both necessary and unsettling, and that finding one's way is often a central concern in life.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
24 total occurrences across the text
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
Job 42:11Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.
Psalms 11:1In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
Psalms 36:11Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.
Psalms 69:20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
Proverbs 26:2Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest.
Isaiah 24:20The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.
Isaiah 51:19These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
Jeremiah 4:1“If you will return, Israel,” says Yahweh, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed;
Jeremiah 15:5For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn you? Who will come to ask of your welfare?
Jeremiah 16:5For Yahweh says, “Don’t enter into the house of mourning. Don’t go to lament. Don’t bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” says Yahweh, “even loving kindness and tender mercies.
Jeremiah 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head.
Jeremiah 22:10Don’t weep for the dead. Don’t bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country.
Jeremiah 31:18“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
Jeremiah 48:17All you who are around him, bemoan him, and all you who know his name; say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’
Jeremiah 48:27For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.
Jeremiah 49:30Flee! Wander far off! Dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Hazor,” says Yahweh; “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.
Jeremiah 50:3For a nation comes up out of the north against her, which will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it. They have fled. They are gone, both man and animal.
Jeremiah 50:8“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats before the flocks.
Nahum 3:7It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?’ Where will I seek comforters for you?”
Genesis 4:12From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”
Genesis 4:14Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. Whoever finds me will kill me.”
1 Kings 14:15For Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking Yahweh to anger.
2 Kings 21:8I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.”