Hebrew word · H6072
עָסַס
ve'asotem
to press
To press, crush, or tread down underfoot. The verb appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning comes from related words. The noun 'asis means fresh, sweet wine: juice that comes from treading grapes (Joel 1:5; Isa 49:26; Amos 9:13; Song 8:2).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to press, crush, press by treading, tread down or out, press (grapes)
1a) (Qal) to press
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
- Range of meaning
To press, crush, or tread down underfoot. The verb appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning comes from related words. The noun 'asis means fresh, sweet wine: juice that comes from treading grapes (Joel 1:5; Isa 49:26; Amos 9:13; Song 8:2). Later Hebrew and Aramaic use the root for pressing and trampling.
- Against the English
English versions agree: 'tread down' (KJV, WEB, ESV-type versions) or 'trample' (BSB, NIV). They are accurate, but they lose the faint picture of a winepress or threshing floor that the root may carry.
- Used elsewhere in the period
BDB and HALOT both give 'press, crush, tread down', based on the related noun 'asis. The Greek Septuagint translates it katapateō, 'trample down'. Similar trampling-in-victory pictures appear in Mic 4:13 ('Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion'), Zech 10:5 (warriors trampling foes in the mud of the streets) and Isa 63:1–6 (God treading the peoples like grapes, aimed at Edom). That passage shares the winepress idea with Malachi but not the same verb.
Where it appears
Malachi · 1
-
Malachi 4:3 וְעַסּוֹתֶ֣ם and you will tread down
Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Here: The only time this verb appears in the Hebrew Bible. It is related to the word for fresh juice pressed out by treading grapes, so the picture is feet pressing something flat. The 'and' carries straight on from verse 2: the calves let out of the stall and leaping about are now stamping over the ground.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.