a loud roaring din: the deep, rushing noise of surf, of a massed crowd or army, or of revelry
This word names a big, rolling, low sound: not a single cry but the continuous roar that rises from something vast and in motion. The same word covers three settings that all share that quality of a heavy, surging noise.
- the crash and roar of the sea and of rushing water
- the uproar of a packed crowd, of hostile nations, and the din of battle
- the loud noise of feasting and celebration
The prophets lean on the overlap: they picture invading armies as a roaring flood, so the roar of the waters and the roar of the nations become one image (Isaiah 17:12 to 13). It sits close to הָמוֹן, which points more to the surging multitude that makes the noise, while this word points to the roar itself, and to תְּרוּעָה, which is a sharp shout or war cry rather than a rolling din.
Because the sound is almost always the noise of a crowd or a flood about to break, the word usually carries a threat. When God is said to still it or bring it down, the point is that he masters the chaos, whether it is the sea or the raging of the peoples.