Hebrew word · H332
אָטַר
te'tar-
to shut
To shut, close, or bind. As a verb it occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. A related adjective, ʾiṭṭēr, describes a man "bound/restricted in his right hand", meaning left-handed (Judg 3:15; 20:16).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) (Qal) shut
1a) to shut up, close, bind
1b) close one's mouth
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
- Range of meaning
To shut, close, or bind. As a verb it occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. A related adjective, ʾiṭṭēr, describes a man "bound/restricted in his right hand", meaning left-handed (Judg 3:15; 20:16).
- Against the English
"Close" (BSB, NIV, ESV) and "shut" (KJV, WEB, NASB) are both accurate. NLT's "devour" drops the shutting and merges the line with the swallowing image.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Rare. Its meaning is fixed by context and by the related adjective, and the ancient translations agree: the Septuagint has synechō, "hold shut, press together", and the Vulgate has urgeat, "press down".
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
-
Psalm 69:15 תֶּאְטַר־ it close
Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.
Here: "Let it [not] shut." This is the only place in the Bible where this verb appears. A related word describes a man whose right hand is "shut" or "bound", meaning he is left-handed (Judg 3:15). Here it means closing tight, like a lid or a stone slammed over an opening.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.