Hebrew word · H4695
מַצּוּת
matzutekha
strife
Strife, contention, struggle. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB and HALOT connect it with the verb נָצָה (to struggle or quarrel; compare Exodus 2:13, two Hebrews 'struggling'). The related noun מַצָּה means strife (Isaiah 58:4; Proverbs 13:10).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
strife, contention
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 Isaiah 41:12
- Range of meaning
Strife, contention, struggle. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB and HALOT connect it with the verb נָצָה (to struggle or quarrel; compare Exodus 2:13, two Hebrews 'struggling'). The related noun מַצָּה means strife (Isaiah 58:4; Proverbs 13:10).
- Against the English
KJV and ESV: 'contend with.' NASB: 'quarrel.' YLT: 'debate.' BSB drops the phrase altogether and merges it into 'those who wage war against you.'
- Used elsewhere in the period
Vv. 11–12 run through a series of opponents: 'those who rage against you,' 'men of your lawsuit' (riv), 'men of your strife' (matsut), 'men of your war' (milchamah). Scholars such as Westermann note that the series climbs from hostility and legal dispute to armed conflict.
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 41:12 מַצֻּתֶ֑ךָ strife your
You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.
Here: "Your strife." This word appears only here in the Bible. It comes from a root for struggling or quarrelling, so 'the men of your strife' are those who fight and quarrel with you. It picks up 'the men of your lawsuit' in v. 11.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.