Buqah (בּוּקָה) appears in Nahum 2:10 in a dramatic triple sequence: buqah umevuqah umevullaqah — 'empty, emptied out, and plundered!' The term describes the complete desolation of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, after its fall. The word carries the sense of something hollowed out, stripped bare, drained of all substance — like a vessel emptied of every last drop.
Nahum's use of buqah in a triad of alliterative desolation terms is one of the most vivid examples of Hebrew sound poetry in the Bible. The triple blast of similar-sounding words mimics the completeness of destruction. Theologically, this desolation serves as divine judgment against the empire that had terrorized nations for centuries. What was full of pride and power becomes utterly empty — a warning about the end of all human empires that defy God.