to empty out: to make a container give up what it holds, whether by pouring out its liquid, tipping out its contents, or baring the weapon in its sheath.
At heart this is one simple action: emptying a container so that what is inside comes out. The container can be almost anything. It may be a sack of grain, a jar of wine, a flask of perfume, the sky heavy with rain, or the sheath that holds a sword.
That range is what surprises readers, because English splits it across several unrelated words while Hebrew keeps one:
- pouring the fine oil out of the pipes that feed a lampstand
- emptying the last grain out of a traveler's sack
- decanting wine from one jar to the next so it does not spoil
- the clouds spilling their rain onto the ground
- and, most strikingly, drawing a sword, which Hebrew describes as emptying the blade out of its sheath
So when a warrior "draws" his sword and a servant "pours out" the oil, they are doing the same thing in Hebrew: emptying a container. The nearest ordinary verb for baring a blade is שָׁלַף, which simply means to pull it out; this word instead pictures the sheath being emptied.
From that concrete core the word stretches in a few directions: pouring out a blessing until there is no more room for it, leaving a hungry person empty of food, and, in one much-discussed verse, Abram bringing out his household fighters and leading them into the field.