עָצַר

Genesis 16:2 עֲצָרַ֤נִי he has restrained me

So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

Here: "He has shut me up / held me back." The perfect verb presents her barrenness as a settled fact. She sees God as actively keeping her from bearing, not merely as allowing it, using the same verb Genesis uses when God "shuts" wombs in 20:18.

Genesis 20:18 עָצֹ֤ר עָצַר֙ certainly <to shut up>, <he> had shut up

for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.

Numbers 16:48 וַתֵּעָצַ֖ר and it was restrained

He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.

Numbers 16:50 נֶעֱצָֽרָה׃ פ it had been restrained

Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, since the plague had been halted.

Numbers 25:8 וַתֵּֽעָצַר֙ and it was restrained

followed the Israelite into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted,

Deuteronomy 11:17 וְעָצַ֤ר and he will shut up

or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.

Here: "And he will shut up." The word for holding something back or closing it off. The sky is pictured as something with a door God can close.

Deuteronomy 32:36 עָצ֥וּר [is] shut up

For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

Here: Literally 'one held back / shut in'. It is the first half of a fixed pair that covers every kind of person (see studies).

Judges 13:15 נַעְצְרָה־ let us detain

“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

Judges 13:16 תַּעְצְרֵ֙נִי֙ you will detain me

And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD.

1 Samuel 9:17 יַעְצֹ֥ר he will rule

When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke; he shall rule over My people.”

1 Samuel 21:5 עֲצֻֽרָה־ [is] withheld

David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the bodies of the young men are holy even on common missions. How much more so today!”

1 Samuel 21:7 נֶעְצָר֙ [was] detained

Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul.

2 Samuel 24:21 וְתֵעָצַ֥ר so it may be restrained

“Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” Araunah said. “To buy your threshing floor,” David replied, “that I may build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”

2 Samuel 24:25 וַתֵּעָצַ֥ר and it was restrained

And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the LORD answered the prayers on behalf of the land, and the plague upon Israel was halted.

1 Kings 8:35 בְּהֵעָצֵ֥ר when are shut up

When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

Here: The preposition 'in' plus a passive verbal noun: 'in the being-held-back of', meaning 'when … is shut up'. The sky is pictured as a store of water that has been closed off and kept back.

1 Kings 14:10 עָצ֥וּר shut up

Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!

Here: A passive participle, "held back" or "restricted". It is the first half of a fixed paired expression whose exact sense is debated (see studies).

1 Kings 18:44 יַעַצָרְכָ֖ה it will hold back you

On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

1 Kings 21:21 וְעָצ֥וּר and shut up

This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.

2 Kings 4:24 תַּעֲצָר־ you hold back

Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.”

2 Kings 9:8 וְעָצ֥וּר and shut up

The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.

Here: A passive form, 'one who is restrained.' It is the first half of a fixed rhyming pair. The exact contrast is debated (slave/free, minor/adult, ritually confined/unconfined, and others). Together the pair means 'everyone, whatever his status.'

2 Kings 14:26 עָצוּר֙ [was] shut up

For the LORD saw that the affliction of the Israelites, both slave and free, was very bitter. There was no one to help Israel,

2 Kings 17:4 וַֽיַּעַצְרֵ֙הוּ֙ and he arrested him

But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.

1 Chronicles 12:1 עָצ֔וּר kept back

Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish (they were among the mighty men who helped him in battle;

1 Chronicles 21:22 וְתֵעָצַ֥ר so it may be restrained

Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”

1 Chronicles 29:14 נַעְצֹ֣ר we will retain

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and from Your own hand we have given to You.

Here: Literally 'we should hold on to' or 'keep in reserve.' The imperfect form gives a sense of possibility: 'that we could have it in us.' With 'strength' it is a late Hebrew idiom for being able.

2 Chronicles 2:6 יַעֲצָר־ will he retain

But who is able to build a house for Him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain Him? Who then am I, that I should build a house for Him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before Him?

Here: Literally 'hold back' or 'keep hold of'. With 'strength' it forms a set phrase, 'retain strength', meaning 'be able, have the power'.

2 Chronicles 6:26 בְּהֵעָצֵ֧ר when are shut up

When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

2 Chronicles 7:13 אֶֽעֱצֹ֤ר I will shut up

If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

Here: "I shut up / hold back." The sky is pictured as a storehouse whose doors God can lock. The first person matters: God says he is the one who does it.

2 Chronicles 13:20 עָצַ֧ר he retained

Jeroboam did not again recover his power during the days of Abijah, and the LORD struck him down and he died.

2 Chronicles 14:11 יַעְצֹ֥ר he retain

Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”

Here: Short for the idiom 'retain strength', meaning to keep one's power or hold one's ground. 'Let him not hold [strength] against you' means 'do not let him prevail'. It quietly echoes 'no strength' from the first line.

2 Chronicles 20:37 עָצְר֖וּ they retained

Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works.” So the ships were wrecked and were unable to sail to Tarshish.

2 Chronicles 22:9 לַעְצֹ֥ר to retain

Then Jehu looked for Ahaziah, and Jehu’s soldiers captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. So Ahaziah was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” So no one was left from the house of Ahaziah with the strength to rule the kingdom.

Nehemiah 6:10 עָצ֑וּר [was] shut up

Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: “Let us meet at the house of God inside the temple. Let us shut the temple doors because they are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you!”

Job 4:2 וַעְצֹ֥ר and to restrain

“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?

Job 12:15 יַעְצֹ֣ר he holds back

If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.

Job 29:9 עָצְר֣וּ they restrained

The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

Psalm 106:30 וַ֝תֵּעָצַ֗ר and it was restrained

But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained.

Here: "And it was held back." The passive leaves the one doing the holding unnamed (God, by implication). The wording repeats Numbers 25:8 word for word, and the same phrase is used when Aaron stopped a plague in Numbers 17:13–15 (16:48–50 in English Bibles).

Isaiah 66:9 וְעָצַ֖רְתִּי and do I restrain?

Shall I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD. “Or will I who deliver close the womb?” says your God.

Jeremiah 20:9 עָצֻ֖ר shut up

If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

Here: 'Confined, held back, locked in.' It is masculine while 'fire' is feminine, so it probably describes the word itself ('it, shut up in my bones') rather than the fire alone.

Jeremiah 33:1 עָצ֔וּר [was] shut up

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time:

Jeremiah 36:5 עָצ֔וּר [am] shut up

Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot enter the house of the LORD;

Jeremiah 39:15 עָצ֔וּר shut up

And while Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD had come to him:

Daniel 10:8 עָצַ֖רְתִּי I retained

So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

Here: 'I retained' or 'I held on to'. The idiom 'retain strength' belongs to later biblical Hebrew. Daniel could not keep any strength in reserve.

Daniel 10:16 עָצַ֖רְתִּי I have retained

And suddenly one with the likeness of a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.

Here: “I have not held on to,” “I have not kept.” It repeats v. 8 word for word. Whatever strength he had, he could not keep.

Daniel 11:6 תַעְצֹ֞ר she will retain

After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to seal the agreement. But his daughter will not retain her position of power, nor will his strength endure. At that time she will be given up, along with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her.