מֵצַר

From the study of Psalm 118:5

Range of meaning

A narrow, constricted place, and from that, distress felt as being hemmed in. It comes from the root ts-r-r, 'to be narrow, to bind, to press hard', the same family as tsar ('narrow'; 'adversary', the one who hems you in) and tsarah ('trouble, distress').

Against the English

'Distress' (BSB, KJV, WEB) is accurate but abstract, and modern English hears it mainly as an inner emotional state. YLT's 'straitness' and NIV's 'hard pressed' keep the physical picture of being squeezed.

How it drifted

English 'distress' itself comes from Latin districtus, 'drawn tight', but that picture has faded. Today it means emotional strain, and the spatial image that sets up the second half of the verse is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rare: only Ps 116:3 ('the straits of Sheol', the grave's narrow grip), here, and Lam 1:3 ('her pursuers overtook her in the narrow places', a picture of being cornered). The related tsar/tsarah run through the psalms of lament, e.g. Ps 4:1 (Heb 4:2): 'in the tight place you made room for me.' The LXX renders it thlipsis, 'pressure, affliction'.

From the study of Psalm 116:3

Range of meaning

From the root צרר, "to be narrow, tight, to bind". Metsar means a strait, a narrow pass, a confined place, and so distress. It occurs only three times: here; Psalm 118:5 ("out of the narrow place I called… the LORD answered me with a broad place"); and Lamentations 1:3 (Judah overtaken "between the straits", i.e. cornered).

Against the English

KJV "pains", WEB "pains", BSB "anguish", YLT "straits". Some modern versions give "terrors" or "pangs". Only "straits" keeps the spatial picture of being squeezed into a tight space. The others turn it into a feeling alone.

How it drifted

Translators often render the word by its emotional effect (pain, anguish, terror) and lose the physical image of narrowness. That image matters in Hebrew thought, where distress is being hemmed in and rescue is being brought out into open space.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 118:5, in the same Passover hymn collection, uses the identical word with its opposite (merḥāb, "a wide place"). The Septuagint here has kindynoi, "dangers", which suggests it read a word for perilous places or situations. Some scholars propose emending to מְצֹדֵי ("nets of") to match "snares of death" in Psalm 18:5. No manuscript has this reading.