Hebrew word · H4689

מָצוֹק

matzok

distress

The word comes from the root ts-w-q, 'to press, constrain, squeeze.' It means straits, pressure or distress: being squeezed with no way out.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

straitness, straits, distress, stress, anguish

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: The word comes from the root ts-w-q, 'to press, constrain, squeeze.' It means straits, pressure or distress: being squeezed with no way out. It can describe siege conditions or crushing circumstances (Deut 28:53, 55, 57, 'in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy distresses you'), and also personal trouble (Ps 119:143, 'trouble and distress have found me').
Against the English: 'Distress' (KJV, WEB, NIV) is accurate. NLT's 'in trouble' is also fair. Modern English 'distressed' can sound purely emotional, like being upset, while the Hebrew points first to an external squeeze such as threat, pursuit or hardship.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Deuteronomy curses it is paired with matsor ('siege') for the pressure of an enemy blockade. The Greek Septuagint translates our verse with en anankē, 'in necessity, under constraint.' The Latin Vulgate reads in angustia constituti, 'set in narrow straits.' Both ancient translations take the word as a hard situation, not a feeling.

Range of meaning: The root tsuq/tsiq means to press, squeeze, constrain or hem in. The hiphil form used here, hetsiq, means to bring into straits or press hard (Judg 14:17; 16:16, where Delilah 'pressed' Samson daily). The noun matsoq means a tight place, straits, pressure or hardship (1 Sam 22:2; Ps 119:143; Jer 19:9).
Against the English: KJV and YLT use 'straitness' and 'straiten', which keep the idea of narrowness but are now archaic. BSB, ESV and WEB use 'distress', and BSB adds 'inflict'. NIV has 'suffering' and moves the phrase to the front. Modern 'distress' suggests emotional anguish. The Hebrew picture is physical constriction: walls closing in and food running out.
How it drifted: 'Distress' once meant physical constraint (from Latin districtus, 'drawn apart, held tight'). In everyday modern English it has narrowed to emotional upset.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deut 28:55 and 28:57 repeat the whole clause 'in the siege and in the squeeze with which your enemy will squeeze you' as a refrain. Jer 19:9 reproduces it with plural verbs and 'enemies'. Isa 29:2 and 29:7 use hetsiq for the siege of Ariel/Jerusalem. The Septuagint renders the pair with στενοχωρία ('narrowness of space') and θλῖψις ('pressure, crushing').

Range of meaning: The root tsuq means 'press, constrain, squeeze into a narrow place'. The noun matsoq means 'distress, straits, crushing pressure'. The verb in its causative form means 'press hard upon, harass': Samson's wife and Delilah 'pressed' him day after day (Judg 14:17; 16:16). The 'distressed' who gathered to David were people 'in matsoq' (1 Sam 22:2).
Against the English: BSB and WEB have 'distress'. KJV has 'straitness … straiten', which keeps the original picture of narrowness and pressure but is archaic. 'Distress' sounds like an emotion. The Hebrew is about a physical squeeze that also causes anguish.
How it drifted: The KJV's 'strait' meant 'narrow, tight' (as in 'strait gate'). Today the word survives mainly in 'dire straits' and 'straitjacket', so many readers miss the sense.
Used elsewhere in the period: Deut 28:53, 55, 57 has almost exactly this clause: 'in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will distress you' (bematsor uvematsoq ʾasher yatsiq lekha ʾoyivekha). Jeremiah repeats it nearly word for word, changing it to the plural.

Deuteronomy · 3

Deuteronomy 28:53 וּבְמָצ֔וֹק and in [the] distress

Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.

Here: 'And in squeeze.' Literally a narrow, pressed place. It rhymes with matsor, so the pair sounds like a vice closing. This is physical confinement and starvation, not just a feeling of upset.
Deuteronomy 28:55 וּבְמָצ֔וֹק and in [the] distress

refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates.
Deuteronomy 28:57 וּבְמָצ֔וֹק and in [the] distress

the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates.

1 Samuel · 1

1 Samuel 22:2 מָצ֜וֹק distress

And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

Here: 'Distress.' The root means to press or squeeze, so the picture is someone hemmed in, under pressure, with no room to move. It points to an outward predicament, not only a mood.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 119:143 וּמָצ֥וֹק and anguish

Trouble and distress have found me, but Your commandments are my delight.

Here: From a root meaning 'to press, squeeze'. Paired with tsar it makes a set phrase for being squeezed from every side. The same pair describes the horrors of a city under siege in Deuteronomy 28:53–57.

Jeremiah · 1

Jeremiah 19:9 וּבְמָצ֔וֹק and in [the] distress

I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

Here: 'And in the squeeze'. Being pressed into a narrow, crushing place. It sounds almost the same as matsor ('siege'), and the pair is lifted word for word from Deuteronomy 28.

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