Hebrew word · H213

אוּץ

'atz

to hasten

To press, urge, hurry; to be in a hurry; to be narrow or confined (Josh 17:15). Used of the angels urging Lot to leave (Gen 19:15), of Egyptian taskmasters pressing the Hebrew slaves (Exod 5:13), of the sun that 'did not hurry to set' (Josh 10:13), and of a man 'hasty with his words' (Prov 29:20).

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to press, be pressed, make haste, urge, be narrow

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to press, hasten

1a2) to be pressed, confined, narrow

1a3) to hasten, make haste

1a4) be narrow

1b) (Hiphil)

1b1) to urge, insist

1b2) to hasten

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 21:5

Range of meaning

To press, urge, hurry; to be in a hurry; to be narrow or confined (Josh 17:15). Used of the angels urging Lot to leave (Gen 19:15), of Egyptian taskmasters pressing the Hebrew slaves (Exod 5:13), of the sun that 'did not hurry to set' (Josh 10:13), and of a man 'hasty with his words' (Prov 29:20).

Against the English

'Hasty' (KJV, WEB, ESV) and 'in a hurry' (NASB) are fair. BSB and NIV turn the person into an abstraction ('haste'), which makes it a general principle about speed. In the Hebrew it is a kind of person: 'everyone who rushes'. NLT reads it as 'hasty shortcuts', which interprets it well.

How it drifted

In modern English 'hasty' can sound like simply 'fast' or 'quick'. In Proverbs the word describes a character flaw: impatience that pushes past due process, skips counsel and work, and grabs for results.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 19:2: 'one who hurries (ʾāṣ) with his feet misses the way'. 28:20: 'one who hurries (ʾāṣ) to get rich will not go unpunished'. 29:20: a man hasty in words is worse than a fool. A related verb, bāhal, makes the same point about wealth in 20:21 and 28:22.

From the study of Proverbs 28:20

Range of meaning

To press, urge, insist (Exod 5:13, taskmasters 'pressing' the Israelites; Gen 19:15, the angels 'urged' Lot). To hurry, be in haste (Josh 10:13, the sun 'did not hurry' to set). Used negatively of rash haste (Prov 19:2; 29:20).

Against the English

BSB/WEB 'eager to be rich' softens it into a feeling. KJV 'maketh haste' and ESV/NASB 'hastens/hurries' keep the picture of impatient, driven action, which matters for the point.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 19:2: 'one who hurries (ʾāṣ) with his feet misses the way' (or 'sins'). Prov 29:20: 'a man hasty (ʾāṣ) in his words'. Prov 21:5: 'everyone who is hasty comes only to want' (a different verb, same theme). Prov 28:22 makes the same point with 'a man with an evil eye hastens after wealth'. Prov 13:11 and 20:21 warn that wealth gained quickly or too early does not last.

From the study of Proverbs 19:2

Range of meaning

To press, urge, hurry, be in a rush, be confined or narrow (Josh 17:15). It carries the feeling of pressure and compulsion, not just speed.

Against the English

"Hasten" or "hurry" captures the speed. The Hebrew also suggests being driven and pressing ahead under inner pressure.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 5:13 (taskmasters "pressing" the Israelites); Josh 10:13 (the sun "did not hurry" to set); Prov 21:5 (everyone who is hasty comes only to want); 28:20 (one who hurries to be rich will not go unpunished); 29:20 (a man hasty in his words).

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 19:15 וַיָּאִ֥יצוּ and they urged

    At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 5:13 אָצִ֣ים [were] pressing [them]

    The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 10:13 אָ֥ץ it hastened

    So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance upon its enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? “So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”

    Here: "Hurried". This pictures the sun as a runner on its daily course (compare Ps 19:5, where the sun runs its course like a champion). Here the runner does not press on toward the finish.

  2. Joshua 17:15 אָ֥ץ it is narrow

    Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”

    Here: 'It is cramped, pressed in'. The root's basic sense is pressure or pushing. Here it pictures land that hems them in.

Proverbs · 4

  1. Proverbs 19:2 וְאָ֖ץ and [one who] hastens

    Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.

    Here: A participle ("one who keeps hurrying") from a verb of pressure and urgency, used of taskmasters driving workers (Exod 5:13). In Proverbs it marks rash haste: hurrying to get rich (28:20), hasty words (29:20), haste that leads to want (21:5).

  2. Proverbs 21:5 אָ֝֗ץ hasty [person]

    The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.

    Here: A participle used as a noun: 'one who hurries, presses ahead'. It is the rash, impatient person who forces results and skips steps, often trying to get rich fast (compare 28:20 and v. 6). It also rhymes with ḥārûṣ.

  3. Proverbs 28:20 וְאָ֥ץ and [one who] hastens

    A faithful man will abound with blessings, but one eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

    Here: An active participle: 'the one who is hurrying'. The verb means to rush or to press hard. It describes someone driven and impatient, who pushes past the slow, honest way of getting things.

  4. Proverbs 29:20 אָ֣ץ hasty

    Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

    Here: A verb form describing what someone keeps doing: "one who hurries" or "one who presses." The verb carries pressure and impatience, not just speed. Elsewhere it describes taskmasters driving workers (Exod 5:13) and people rushing to get rich (Prov 28:20).

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 22:4 תָּאִ֣יצוּ you insist

    Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

    Here: "Press, insist, hurry." The comforters are pushing, trying too hard and too soon to talk him out of his grief. The same verb describes the angels urging Lot out of Sodom (Gen 19:15).

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 17:16 אַ֣צְתִּי׀ I have hastened

    But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence.

    Here: 'I hurried.' With 'from' after it, it means hurrying away from something, i.e. shirking or deserting a post. Read with the alternative vowels (see notes), it means pressing or urging.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.