Hebrew word · H6694

צוּק

yatzuk

to pour

The form is unusual, and three explanations are offered. (1) It comes from tsuq / yatsaq, 'pour out' (compare Job 28:2, 29:6), giving 'they poured out'. (2) It comes from the homonym tsuq, 'press, constrain, distress' (H6693), giving 'they were in straits' or 'they were pressed into'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Qal) to pour out, melt

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 26:16

Range of meaning

The form is unusual, and three explanations are offered. (1) It comes from tsuq / yatsaq, 'pour out' (compare Job 28:2, 29:6), giving 'they poured out'. (2) It comes from the homonym tsuq, 'press, constrain, distress' (H6693), giving 'they were in straits' or 'they were pressed into'. (3) It is a scribal slip, and many scholars emend it to tsa'aqnu, 'we cried out'.

Against the English

The KJV, WEB, YLT, BSB and ESV all have 'poured out'. The NIV and NASB move toward the 'pressed' idea with 'could barely' or 'could only' whisper a prayer. The difference matters: 'pouring out' suggests a flood of prayer, while 'barely whispering' suggests prayer squeezed down to almost nothing.

Used elsewhere in the period

The extra -n ending is very rare on this verb form (compare yadeʿun in Deut 8:3, 16). Pouring out the heart or soul before God is a standard image for prayer (1 Sam 1:15; Ps 62:8; Lam 2:19). The Vulgate's 'in tribulatione murmuris' seems to take the word as a noun meaning distress.

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 28:2 יָצ֥וּק someone pours out

    Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.

  2. Job 29:6 יָצ֥וּק it poured out

    when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 26:16 צָק֣וּן they poured out !

    O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.

    Here: This is an unusual verb form with an extra -n ending, which may add emphasis or be an older style. Most take it as 'they poured out', the same image as pouring out the heart in prayer. A similar-sounding root means 'press, constrain', which allows the alternative 'they were reduced to a whisper'. The word also echoes the sound of tsar ('distress') just before it.

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