to pour out and stream down; of divine anger, to be unleashed on a place; of ore, to melt down in a furnace
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
At root this verb describes liquid set loose so that it streams or trickles down: rain that has stopped falling, water dripping from the sky, milk poured from a jar. From that plain physical picture the word reaches in two directions.
Overwhelmingly, the Old Testament uses it for God's anger being poured out on a place, alongside the more common verb for pouring out blood and wrath (שָׁפַךְ). The image is deliberate: stored-up wrath is unleashed like a cloudburst, unstoppable once it breaks. This is the word behind many of the prophets' warnings and the confessions of guilt in Daniel.
Its other main use is industrial. Ore is melted in a furnace so the pure metal separates from the dross and can be drawn off. Ezekiel turns this into a picture of a nation thrown into the fire of judgment. The two uses share one idea: something solid or pent-up is turned to liquid and released.
Nuances
1ato pour out and flow down: rain, water, or milk released so that it streams
TranslatabilityDirect
Exo 9:332Sa 21:10Job 3:24Job 10:10
1bof God's anger, wrath, or a curse: to be poured out and unleashed on a place or people
In Hebrew the verb pictures liquid streaming down, and Scripture uses it above all for God's stored-up anger being unleashed on a place.Jer 7:202Ch 34:25
Both
Both describe a liquid released so that it flows freely.Exo 9:33
Only poured out
The English "pour out" can suggest a careful, measured emptying, like pouring a drink, missing the sense of an unstoppable downpour.
In the smelting sense the Hebrew is about ore liquefied in a furnace so its metal can be separated and drawn off.Ezk 22:20Ezk 22:22
Both
Both describe a solid turned to liquid by heat.Ezk 24:11
Only melt
English "melt" often means something softening, like butter, snow, or a fearful heart, which in Hebrew is usually a different word.
“empty out”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How natakh differs from similar Hebrew words
שָׁפַךְthe ordinary, wide word for pouring out blood, water, libations, and wrath; this word is narrower, stressing liquid that streams down and, distinctively, metal melted in a furnace.
יָצַקto pour or cast, especially molten metal poured into a mold or oil poured to anoint; it overlaps in metalworking but centers on the controlled pouring rather than the melting itself.
נָגַרto run down or flow away, as tears or water spilling on the ground; it describes liquid running off rather than being poured out or smelted.
מָסַסto melt away or dissolve, used of a heart failing in fear or of snow melting; the softening of courage, not the smelting of ore.
natakh in the other biblical languages
ἐκχέωGreek“to pour out”the main New Testament verb for pouring out, used of wrath, blood, and the Spirit poured out; the closest counterpart to the wrath-poured-out sense.
τήκωGreek“to melt”to melt or dissolve, used of the elements melting in fire at the last day; the counterpart to the smelting sense.
What scholars say about natakh
The lexicons treat נתך as a single root meaning "pour out, be poured forth, flow," with a derived smelting sense "melt, smelt." The Qal and Niphal carry the intransitive "be poured out / flow," the Hiphil the transitive "pour out" and "melt down," and the Hophal "be melted." By a wide margin the most frequent usage is figurative: divine wrath, fury, or the covenant curse "poured out" on a place (so Jeremiah, 2 Chronicles, Daniel 9), semantically parallel to שׁפך. Ezekiel develops the metallurgical sense into an extended smelting-furnace image of judgment (Ezek 22:17-22; 24:11). The Hiphil in 2 Kings 22:9 and its parallel 2 Chronicles 34:17, of the temple silver, is a recognized crux: HALOT and BDB relate it to the pouring/emptying-out of the counted money, while others take it as smelting the silver into ingots of fixed weight.