nu.a describes shaking or movement, including trembling, staggering, wandering, and gestures of the head or hand.

The verb most often marks visible movement or agitation: structures, idols, a person, or grain are shaken or set in motion. Its attested range also includes unsettled wandering, staggering or swaying, and motions of the head or hand made toward someone.

1. Physical shaking or movement · dominant

   In Isaiah 6:4, Qal sequential imperfect forms describe the foundations of the thresholds moving at the caller's voice; in Isaiah 19:1 the idols move before the approaching LORD. Hiphil forms in Amos 9:9 place the house of Israel in the image of grain shaken in a sieve, while Daniel 10:10 describes a hand moving Daniel onto his knees and hands.

   Isaiah 6:4Isaiah 19:1Amos 9:9Daniel 10:10Nahum 3:121 Samuel 1:13
2. Wandering without settled direction · common

   The Qal participles in Genesis 4:12 and Genesis 4:14 describe the same person as a restless wanderer on the earth. In Amos 8:12, the Qal sequential perfect is used of going from sea to sea in a fruitless search, and Numbers 32:13 uses a Hiphil sequential imperfect for Israel's movement in the wilderness.

   Genesis 4:12Genesis 4:14Numbers 32:13Jeremiah 14:10Amos 8:12Psalm 109:10
3. Staggering or swaying · common

   In Exodus 20:18, the Qal sequential imperfect occurs as the people fear what they see and hear. Isaiah 24:20 uses Qal infinitive-absolute forms for the earth's repeated unsteady motion, and Psalm 107:27 uses a Qal imperfect of people reeling like a drunken man.

   Exodus 20:18Amos 4:8Isaiah 24:20Isaiah 29:9Lamentations 4:14Psalm 107:27
4. Moving the head or hand in response · occasional

   In 2 Kings 19:21, the Hiphil perfect is part of Jerusalem's contemptuous response toward its opponent, and the APB renders the clause "has shaken her head after you." Job 16:4 similarly places a Hiphil cohortative in Job's hypothetical act of shaking his head over his companions; Lamentations 2:15 and Psalm 109:25 show passersby making that gesture toward Jerusalem or the speaker.

   2 Kings 19:21Isaiah 37:22Job 16:4Lamentations 2:15Psalm 109:25Zephaniah 2:15

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously renders the movement with terms such as "shook," "wander," "staggered," "sways," and "shake their head." These renderings indicate the movement described by each whole clause rather than fixed English equivalents for the term.