Hebrew word · H4330

מִיץ

mitz

pressing

"Pressing, squeezing, wringing out." The noun occurs only in this verse, three times. Its meaning comes from related verbs. The root m-ts-h means "to drain, wring out": Gideon "wrung" dew out of the fleece (Judges 6:38), and the cup of wrath is "drained" to the dregs (Isaiah 51:17; Psalm 75:8).

Appears 3 times in 1 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

squeezing, pressing, wringing

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 30:33

Range of meaning

"Pressing, squeezing, wringing out." The noun occurs only in this verse, three times. Its meaning comes from related verbs. The root m-ts-h means "to drain, wring out": Gideon "wrung" dew out of the fleece (Judges 6:38), and the cup of wrath is "drained" to the dregs (Isaiah 51:17; Psalm 75:8). The root m-ts-ts means "to suck" (Isaiah 66:11). The core idea is steady, forceful pressure that pushes the contents out.

Against the English

English versions often use three different verbs for the one Hebrew word: "churning" milk, "twisting/wringing" the nose, "stirring/forcing" anger (BSB, KJV, WEB). That reads naturally in English, but it hides the fact that the Hebrew says the same thing three times. The ESV's "pressing… pressing… pressing" keeps the repetition.

How it drifted

There is no change in meaning over time. The issue is style: English translators avoid repeating a word, and the Hebrew depends on repeating it.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun occurs only here. The related verb is used in Judges 6:38 (wringing out a fleece) and of draining a cup (Isaiah 51:17; Psalm 75:8; Ezekiel 23:34). The Latin Vulgate uses several "pressing" verbs (premit… exprimit… emungit), and the Greek Septuagint uses ekpiezō, "squeeze out," in the second line.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 3

  1. Proverbs 30:33 מִ֪יץ וּֽמִיץ־ וּמִ֥יץ squeezing of, and squeezing of

    For as the churning of milk yields butter, and the twisting of the nose draws blood, so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.”

    Here: A noun that appears nowhere else in the Bible except these three times in this verse. It means hard squeezing or wringing out. Here it describes working milk in a skin bag until it turns.

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