mug describes people, inner strength, or the land giving way under fear, distress, or divine action.

The occurrences most often portray people or an inner life giving way amid fear, bad news, or distress; they also describe landforms yielding when God touches or approaches them. In a few clauses, the form marks someone being caused to dissolve or be carried away.

1. Giving way in fear or distress · dominant

   In Joshua 2:9 and Joshua 2:24, Niphal perfect plural forms occur with the inhabitants of the land after terror has fallen on them; the APB renders the clauses “melted away” and “melting in fear.” In Jeremiah 49:23 the same form follows bad tidings received by Damascus, Hamath, and Arpad, while Psalm 107:26 applies a Hithpolel imperfect to a soul in distress.

   Joshua 2:9Joshua 2:24Exodus 15:15Jeremiah 49:231 Samuel 14:16Psalm 107:26
2. Land and hills yielding · common

   In Amos 9:5, the land responds when the Lord GOD of Hosts touches it, and the APB renders that result “it melts.” Amos 9:13 places the Hithpolel imperfect with hills, and Nahum 1:5 places it with mountains and hills before him.

   Amos 9:5Amos 9:13Nahum 1:5
3. Being dissolved or carried away · occasional

   In Job 30:22, a Polel imperfect addresses God as the one who makes the speaker ride on the wind and, in the APB rendering, “dissolve me in the storm.” Isaiah 64:6 similarly uses a Qal sequential imperfect in a confession where iniquities carry the people away like wind.

   Job 30:22Isaiah 64:6

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses “melted away,” “melting in fear,” or “melt” in the fear and landform contexts, and “dissolve me” in Job 30:22. Several occurrences cannot be assigned a specific English rendering with certainty.