55. abak

Lexical Summary

abak: To wrestle, to grapple

Original Word: אָבַךְ
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: abak
Pronunciation: ah-BAHK
Phonetic Spelling: (aw-bak')
KJV: mount up
NASB: roll upward
Word Origin: [a primitive root]

1. probably to coil upward

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

mount up

A primitive root; probably to coil upward -- mount up.

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
a prim. root
Definition
to turn
NASB Translation
roll upward (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

[אָבַךְ] verb turn (?) (compare Assyrian Abâku Dl^w = הָפַךְ; Thes MV and others compare בוך)

Hithpa`el וַיִּתְאַבְכוּ Isaiah 9:17; roll, roll up, as volume of smoke (of Israel under figure of thickets of forest) see De & compare הִתִהַמֵּךְ Judges 7:3.

Topical Lexicon

Entry: אָבַךְ (Strong’s Hebrew 55)

Imagery and Conceptual Background

אָבַךְ evokes the billowing, choking “column of smoke” that rises when vegetation or wood is set ablaze. The term highlights opacity, turbulence, and the engulfing nature of smoke rather than its scent or sacrificial connotation. It points to a state in which vision is obscured, air is thickened, and movement is hindered—an apt metaphor for the blinding and suffocating effects of unchecked sin.

Biblical Occurrence and Immediate Context

Isaiah 9:18 employs אָבַךְ to describe Israel’s wickedness:

“For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes the briars and thorns; it sets ablaze the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.”

Within Isaiah’s larger oracle (Isaiah 9:8–10:4), the prophet depicts covenant-breaking Israel as self-destructing. Wickedness, once kindled, races through society like wildfire, leaving behind only a rising shroud of smoke. אָבַךְ thus becomes a visual testimony to divine justice: the nation’s own rebellion produces both the fire and the dark plume that announces its judgment.

Theological Significance of Rising Smoke

1. Evidence of Consuming Judgment
• Smoke often signals God’s consuming wrath (Deuteronomy 29:20; Revelation 14:11). In Isaiah 9:18 the smoke is not the direct act of God’s hand from heaven but the natural consequence of sin allowed to burn unchecked. Yet it fulfills the covenant warnings that disobedience would invite curse (Leviticus 26:14–17).
2. Visibility of Hidden Sin
• Sin that begins in secret eventually manifests publicly, just as the invisible combustion within thickets eventually produces a visible pillar. The image warns that no transgression remains concealed (Numbers 32:23).
3. Foretaste of Eschatological Realities
• The upward surge of smoke anticipates final judgment scenes in which the smoke of Babylon’s downfall “goes up forever and ever” (Revelation 19:3). Isaiah’s single use lays an early canonical foundation for later prophetic and apocalyptic development.

Historical Setting in Isaiah’s Day

Isaiah prophesied during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis and the looming Assyrian invasion. Social injustice, idolatry, and reliance on foreign alliances had fanned the spark of wickedness into a conflagration. The imagery of briars, thorns, and forest thickets represents the people (cf. Isaiah 5:6; 7:23-24). אָבַךְ paints what observers would soon witness in literal form as Assyrian scorched-earth tactics reduced towns to smoking ruins.

Related Smoke Imagery Elsewhere in Scripture

• Genesis 15:17 – A “smoking firepot” ratifies God’s covenant, showing smoke as a sign of divine presence.
• Exodus 19:18 – Mount Sinai “was enveloped in smoke” when the Lord descended, linking smoke to holiness and fear.
• Psalm 37:20 – “They vanish—like smoke they fade away,” using smoke’s transience to portray the end of the wicked.
• Revelation 8:4 – The “smoke of the incense” ascends with the prayers of the saints, contrasting righteous intercession with sinful self-immolation.

Ministry and Discipleship Implications

1. Preaching on Sin’s Progression
• Isaiah 9:18 provides a vivid illustration for sermons that warn how personal or corporate sin, once ignited, grows until it darkens understanding and invites judgment.
2. Counseling and Accountability
• The passage encourages early intervention; smoldering embers must be quenched before they swell into a cloud.
3. Intercession and Revival
• Seeing smoke as the evidence of destruction prompts believers to intercede for nations and churches caught in sin-driven cycles, asking the Spirit to send cleansing rain.
4. Evangelism
• The stark picture of a society undone by its own wickedness underscores the urgency of proclaiming the gospel that delivers from “the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Summary

אָבַךְ, though occurring only once, contributes a powerful image to the biblical vocabulary of judgment. The rising column of smoke in Isaiah 9:18 stands as a timeless warning: sin not only burns—it blinds. Wherever unrepentant wickedness advances, an oppressive cloud follows, testifying that the wages of sin are death. By heeding the warning and turning to the One who baptizes “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11), believers exchange the smoke of destruction for the refining flames of grace.

Forms and Transliterations

וַיִּֽתְאַבְּכ֖וּ ויתאבכו vaiyitabbeChu way·yiṯ·’ab·bə·ḵū wayyiṯ’abbəḵū

Englishman's Concordance

Isaiah 9:18
HEB: בְּסִֽבְכֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר וַיִּֽתְאַבְּכ֖וּ גֵּא֥וּת עָשָֽׁן׃
NAS: aflame And they roll upward in a column
KJV: of the forest, and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up
INT: the thickets of the forest roll A column of smoke

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 55
1 Occurrence

way·yiṯ·’ab·bə·ḵū — 1 Occ.