Hebrew word · H4164

מוּצָק

mutzak

constraint

Two Hebrew words look alike. (1) From the root ts-w-q, "press, constrain": narrowness, constraint, distress (Isa 8:23 [9:1 Eng.]; Job 36:16).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

constraint, distress

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 Job 37:10

Range of meaning

Two Hebrew words look alike. (1) From the root ts-w-q, "press, constrain": narrowness, constraint, distress (Isa 8:23 [9:1 Eng.]; Job 36:16). (2) From the root y-ts-q, "pour, cast metal": something cast, a solid mass (Job 37:18, the sky "hard as a cast mirror"; Job 38:38, dust running "into a mass"; 1 Kgs 7:37).

Against the English

KJV and YLT say "straitened," following the sense of constraint. BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB say "frozen" or "frozen fast," which gives the physical result instead of the picture. Both are defensible. "Frozen" loses the image of broad water being squeezed narrow.

Used elsewhere in the period

In 36:16, just a few verses earlier, Elihu used the same pair of words: God would lure Job "into a broad place (rachav) where there is no constraint (mutsaq)." BDB files Job 37:10 under "constraint." Several commentators (e.g. Clines, Habel) also hear the "cast metal" sense, which fits 37:18 and 38:38 in the same section. The Latin Vulgate took it from "pour" (see textual notes).

Similar words

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 36:16 מוּצָ֣ק constraint

    Indeed, He drew you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and broad place, to a table full of richness.

    Here: From a root meaning 'to press, squeeze'. 'No squeeze, no pressure': the open space has nothing pressing in on it. (A different word spelled the same way in Job 37:18 and 38:38 means 'cast metal'.)

  2. Job 37:10 בְּמוּצָֽק׃ [is] <in> constraint

    By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen.

    Here: Literally "in narrowness." The broad waters are squeezed tight, locked up. A similar-sounding word from another root means "cast, poured solid like metal," and the poet probably wants both pictures: water hemmed in and set hard like a casting.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 9:1 מוּצָ֣ק distress

    Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:

    Here: From a root meaning 'to press, squeeze'. It is the feeling of being hemmed in and crushed, picking up 'anguish' (tsuqah) from 8:22. Job 36:16 contrasts it with 'a broad place'.

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