Original Word: נְחוּשָׁה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: nchuwshah
Pronunciation: ne-khoo-SHAH
Phonetic Spelling: (nekh-oo-shaw')
KJV: brass, steel
NASB: bronze, copper
Word Origin: [feminine of H5153 (נָחוּשׁ - bronze)]

1. copper

brass, steel

Or nchushah {nekh-oo-shaw'}; feminine of nachuwsh; copper -- brass, steel. Compare Nachash.

see HEBREW nachuwsh

see HEBREW Nachash

Word Origin
fem. of nachush
Definition
copper, bronze
NASB Translation
bronze (9), copper (1).

נְחוּשָׁה and (Leviticus 26:19; Job 40:18) נְחֻשָׁה noun feminine copper, bronze (only in poetry; compare I. נְחשֶׁת); — ׳נ always absolute; —

1 copper produced from ore by melting Job 28:2.

2 copper, doubtless hardened with alloy, = bronze, as material of bow 2 Samuel 22:35 = Psalm 18:35; Job 20:24; gates Isaiah 45:2; figurative of strength Job 40:18 (bones of hippopotamus), compare Job 41:19, Micah 4:13 (hoofs of Zion); of obstinate brow Isaiah 48:4 ("" גִּיד בַּרְזֶל עָרְמֶּ֑ךָ); unproductive earth Leviticus 26:19.

Material and Technological Background

נְחוּשָׁה designates refined bronze or copper, metals prized in the Ancient Near East for durability and luster. The term appears at a point when Israel had long passed into the Bronze–Iron transitional period; nevertheless, bronze remained strategic for gates (Isaiah 45:2), bows (Psalm 18:34), and agricultural implements (Micah 4:13). The word therefore evokes a world where craftsmanship, defense, and agriculture all depended on the smelting furnace. Job 28:2 affirms this technological sophistication: “Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.”

Military Imagery and Divine Empowerment

Bronze weaponry symbolizes the warrior strength Yahweh imparts to His servants. David celebrates, “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze” (2 Samuel 22:35; cf. Psalm 18:34). The feat surpasses normal human capability, framing the king’s victories as gifts of covenant faithfulness. In the eschatological promise to Zion the same theme resurfaces: “I will make your horn iron and your hooves bronze” (Micah 4:13), pledging an invincible remnant that threshes the nations under divine commission.

Poetic Depictions of Strength and Fragility

In Job’s speeches bronze becomes a literary yardstick for hardness—then immediately eclipsed. The wicked may elude “an iron weapon,” yet “a bronze arrow will pierce him” (Job 20:24). Behemoth’s skeleton is “tubes of bronze” (Job 40:18), while Leviathan scoffs at the alloy as “rotten wood” (Job 41:27). The poetry extols creation’s marvels while humbling human pride: every creature, metal, or armament lies within the orbit of the Creator’s sovereignty.

Covenant Warnings and Judgment

Leviticus 26:19 links bronze to curse, not blessing: “I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze.” The imagery of a bronze-hardened earth conveys agricultural barrenness—a stark reversal of Edenic fruitfulness. Isaiah 48:4 presses the same metaphor inward: “Your neck is iron and your brow bronze,” indicting covenant infidelity. Thus נְחוּשָׁה can represent spiritual obstinacy as well as physical resilience.

Eschatological Hope and Messianic Overtones

Isaiah 45:2 places bronze gates before Cyrus, the anointed servant who prefigures the Messiah: “I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.” The verse assures that no human fortification can thwart God’s redemptive advance, anticipating the ultimate liberation accomplished by Christ, who “disarmed the powers and authorities” (Colossians 2:15). Bronze, once emblematic of human strength, is shattered to herald the kingdom’s arrival.

Ministry Reflections and Contemporary Application

1. Dependence, not self-reliance: Like David’s bronze bow, ministry effectiveness arises from divine training, not natural prowess.
2. Hardened hearts: Pastoral preaching must expose the “brow of bronze” (Isaiah 48:4) that resists repentance, while offering the Spirit’s promise to replace hearts of stone.
3. Spiritual warfare: The breaking of bronze gates (Isaiah 45:2) encourages intercessors that entrenched strongholds—personal or societal—are vulnerable before the Lord.
4. Hope amid judgment: Even when the land feels “like bronze” (Leviticus 26:19), drought drives believers to covenant renewal, anticipating the rain of grace.

Thus נְחוּשָׁה threads through Scripture as both warning and encouragement, its metallic sheen mirroring the unyielding faithfulness and righteous severity of the God who refines His people.

כַּנְּחֻשָֽׁה׃ כנחשה׃ נְ֝חוּשָׁ֗ה נְחוּשָֽׁה׃ נְחוּשָׁ֑ה נְחוּשָׁ֔ה נְחוּשָׁ֖ה נְחוּשָׁה֙ נחושה נחושה׃ kan·nə·ḥu·šāh kannechuShah kannəḥušāh nə·ḥū·šāh nechuShah nəḥūšāhInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts