טֹ֫רַח

From the study of Deuteronomy 1:12

Range of meaning

A load or encumbrance, the wearying trouble of carrying something. It is very rare in the Hebrew Bible, used only here and in Isa 1:14. The related verb (Job 37:11) means "to load", as when clouds are loaded with moisture. In later Hebrew, ṭōraḥ / ṭirḥāh becomes the everyday word for effort, bother, toil.

Against the English

KJV "cumbrance" (an old word for encumbrance) is close to the sense but now unfamiliar. YLT "pressure" catches the strain. BSB "troubles" and WEB/NIV "problems" can be heard as the troubles the people are going through, when the word means the trouble they cause the one who carries them. Some modern versions (e.g. ESV, NASB) render it as "weight" or "load", which keeps the physical picture.

How it drifted

In modern English, "your troubles" or "your problems" usually means things that have happened to you and call for sympathy. The Hebrew word is about the weight placed on the carrier.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 1:14 is the only other biblical use: "Your new moons and appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a ṭōraḥ to me; I am weary of bearing (nəśōʾ) them." The same pairing of ṭōraḥ with the verb nāśāʾ occurs in both places. HALOT and BDB both give "burden".