Hebrew word · H4623
מַעְצָר
ma'tzar
restraint
Found only here. It is built from ʿāṣar, 'to hold back, restrain, shut up, retain', with a prefix that turns a verb into a noun for the thing or means that does the action. So it means 'a check' or 'a restraint'.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
restraint, control
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 25:28
- Range of meaning
Found only here. It is built from ʿāṣar, 'to hold back, restrain, shut up, retain', with a prefix that turns a verb into a noun for the thing or means that does the action. So it means 'a check' or 'a restraint'.
- Against the English
'Control' (BSB, NASB), 'rule' (KJV), 'restraint' (WEB, YLT), 'self-control' (NIV, ESV, NLT). All of them fit. 'Restraint' is closest to the picture of holding back or shutting in. 'Rule' suggests governing, which is a little further from the root.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The verb ʿāṣar is used for God shutting up the heavens so no rain falls (Deut 11:17), for a closed womb (Gen 16:2), for detaining someone (Judg 13:15), and for restraining or ruling a people (1 Sam 9:17). The Greek Septuagint did not translate the word directly and wrote 'without counsel' instead, which suggests the rare word was unclear even in antiquity.
Where it appears
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 25:28 מַעְצָ֣ר control
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who does not control his temper.
Here: A noun built from a verb meaning 'to hold back' or 'to shut in', so it names whatever holds something back. This verse is the only place in the Hebrew Bible where it appears.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.