Hebrew word · H6693

צוּק

yatzik

to press

The root tsuq means to press, constrain, squeeze, or bring into distress. The causative participle metsiq means 'the one who puts the squeeze on': oppressor, tormentor. Related nouns are tsoq and tsuqah, 'distress, anguish'.

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Hiphil) to constrain, press, bring into straits, straiten, oppress

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 51:13

Range of meaning

The root tsuq means to press, constrain, squeeze, or bring into distress. The causative participle metsiq means 'the one who puts the squeeze on': oppressor, tormentor. Related nouns are tsoq and tsuqah, 'distress, anguish'.

Against the English

'Oppressor' is correct. The Hebrew carries a physical picture of being squeezed or hemmed in, a narrow place with no way out. English 'oppressor' sounds more abstract and legal or political.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the curses of Deuteronomy 28:53, 55, 57 the phrase 'in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you (yatsiq)' describes the horrors of a besieged city. Isaiah 29:2, 7 uses the same root of Ariel/Jerusalem under siege. Isaiah 51:23 names the same figures as 'your tormentors' (moghayikh), the ones who said 'Bow down, that we may walk over you.'

From the study of Job 32:18

Range of meaning

In the causative form used here: to press hard, hem in, constrain, bring into distress. Related nouns: māṣôq / ṣûqâ, "distress, siege, anguish." The basic picture is being squeezed in a tight place.

Against the English

BSB and NIV: "compels." KJV, WEB and ESV: "constrains." YLT: "distressed me." "Compels" points to an urge or motive. The Hebrew is more physical and uncomfortable, a squeezing pressure that hurts until it is released. YLT keeps the discomfort, and "constrain" (from Latin constringere, "bind tight") was originally closer than it sounds today.

How it drifted

"Constrain" now usually means "limit or restrict," the opposite direction. In older English it meant "press, force." A modern reader of KJV/WEB may think the spirit is holding him back, when it is pushing him to speak.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 28:53, 55, 57: an enemy's siege that "distresses" a city to the point of famine. Judg 14:17: Samson's wife "pressed him hard." Judg 16:16: Delilah "pressed him" daily until he was "vexed to death." Isa 29:2, 7: God "distresses" Ariel (Jerusalem). LXX here: olekei, "destroys/is killing me." Vulgate: coartat, "squeezes, confines."

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 3

  1. Deuteronomy 28:53 יָצִ֥יק he will bring 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: 'He will squeeze' or 'press hard.' This is the verb behind matsoq: 'the squeeze with which he squeezes you.' The repetition tightens the sound and the picture.

  2. Deuteronomy 28:55 יָצִ֥יק he will bring 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.

  3. Deuteronomy 28:57 יָצִ֥יק he will bring 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.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 14:17 הֱצִיקַ֔תְהוּ she pressed him

    She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.

  2. Judges 16:16 הֵצִ֨יקָה she pressed

    Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,

Job · 1

  1. Job 32:18 הֱ֝צִיקַ֗תְנִי it has constrained me

    For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.

    Here: "It presses me hard" or "it squeezes me." The same verb describes a besieging army squeezing a city (Deut 28:53) and Delilah nagging Samson until he could not bear it (Judg 16:16). The subject, the feminine noun *rûaḥ*, comes after the verb.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 29:2 וַהֲצִיק֖וֹתִי and I will bring distress

    And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

  2. Isaiah 29:7 וְהַמְּצִיקִ֖ים and those [who] bring distress

    All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

  3. Isaiah 51:13 הַמֵּצִ֔יק הַמֵּצִֽיק׃ the oppressor

    But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor?

    Here: A causative participle: 'the one who presses in, squeezes, hems in'. The picture is of being cornered or crushed. In context it refers to the Babylonian overlord, though he is not named.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 19:9 יָצִ֧יקוּ they will press

    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: 'They will press hard'. From the same root as matsoq: 'the squeeze with which they will squeeze them'. It describes the enemy steadily tightening its grip.

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