צוּר

Exodus 23:22 וְצַרְתִּ֖י and I will be a foe to

But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

Here: The picture is of hemming in, pressing someone into a tight place, besieging. God will squeeze those who squeeze Israel.

Exodus 32:4 וַיָּ֤צַר and he fashioned

He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Here: Most likely "he shaped / cast" it, as in 1 Kings 7:15, where the same verb is used for casting bronze pillars. The same letters can also come from a root meaning "to tie up," which allows an old alternative reading (see debates).

Deuteronomy 2:9 תָּ֙צַר֙ you may provoke

Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”

Here: To hem in, put military pressure on, act with hostility. It is the language of siege and hostile pressure, not of minor annoyance: Israel is not to treat Moab as a target.

Deuteronomy 2:19 תְּצֻרֵ֖ם you provoke them

But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”

Deuteronomy 14:25 וְצַרְתָּ֤ and you will secure

then exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.

Deuteronomy 20:12 וְצַרְתָּ֖ and you will lay siege

But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.

Deuteronomy 20:19 תָצ֣וּר you will lay siege

When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?

Judges 9:31 צָרִ֥ים [are] shutting up

So he covertly sent messengers to Abimelech to say, “Look, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you.

1 Samuel 23:8 לָצ֥וּר to lay siege

Then Saul summoned all his troops to go to war at Keilah and besiege David and his men.

2 Samuel 11:1 וַיָּצֻ֖רוּ and they laid siege

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

Here: "And they besieged." The root's picture is pressing in and shutting up. The campaign has narrowed from ravaging the country to choking one walled city, which is slow work and leaves the army away for a long time.

2 Samuel 20:15 וַיָּצֻ֣רוּ and they laid siege

And Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel-beth-maacah and built a siege ramp against the outer rampart of the city. As all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to topple it,

1 Kings 7:15 וַיָּ֛צַר and he fashioned

He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.

1 Kings 15:27 צָרִ֖ים [were] laying siege

Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging the city.

1 Kings 16:17 וַיָּצֻ֖רוּ and they laid siege

Then Omri and all the Israelites marched up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.

1 Kings 20:1 וַיָּ֙צַר֙ and he laid siege

Now Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he marched up, besieged Samaria, and waged war against it.

Here: The root means to bind, confine or shut in. He closed off the city, cutting off movement and supplies.

2 Kings 5:23 וַיָּצַר֩ and he secured

But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them. Then he tied up two talents of silver in two bags along with two sets of clothing and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.

2 Kings 6:24 וַיָּ֖צַר and he laid siege

Some time later, Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

2 Kings 6:25 צָרִ֣ים [they were] laying siege

So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.

2 Kings 12:10 וַיָּצֻ֙רוּ֙ and they tied up

Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the royal scribe and the high priest would go up, count the money brought into the house of the LORD, and tie it up in bags.

2 Kings 16:5 וַיָּצֻ֙רוּ֙ and they laid siege

Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.

2 Kings 17:5 וַיָּ֥צַר and he laid siege

Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.

2 Kings 18:9 וַיָּ֥צַר and he laid siege

In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it.

2 Kings 24:11 צָרִ֥ים [were] laying siege

And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

1 Chronicles 20:1 וַיָּ֣צַר and he besieged

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

2 Chronicles 6:28 יָֽצַר־ he will lay siege

When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

Here: 'Hems in, presses hard on.' It describes the squeeze of a siege, where a city is cut off from its fields and starved. The phrase echoes Deuteronomy 28:52.

Esther 8:11 הַצָּרִ֥ים which attacks

By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.

Here: 'Those besieging' or 'pressing hard on' them, the people actually attacking. This is the condition that defines the target: only those who attack.

Psalm 139:5 צַרְתָּ֑נִי you enclose me

You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.

Song of Songs 8:9 נָצ֥וּר we will shut up

If she is a wall, we will build a tower of silver upon her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

Isaiah 21:2 צוּרִ֣י lay siege

A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.”

Here: A second feminine command: 'besiege!', meaning hem in a city and cut it off. It pairs with 'go up' as the next stage of the attack.

Isaiah 29:3 וְצַרְתִּ֤י and I will lay siege

I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.

Jeremiah 21:4 הַצָּרִ֣ים who are laying siege

this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city.

Here: 'The ones besieging'. The root means to press in or shut up, here a city ringed and cut off.

Jeremiah 21:9 הַצָּרִ֤ים who are laying siege

Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.

Here: 'The ones besieging.' The present participle shows the siege is going on as Jeremiah speaks. The army is outside the walls right now.

Jeremiah 32:2 צָרִ֖ים [were] laying siege

At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.

Jeremiah 37:5 הַצָּרִ֤ים who were laying siege

Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 39:1 וַיָּצֻ֖רוּ and they laid siege

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city.

Here: 'And they besieged.' The verb shifts to plural because the king and his whole army act together. Tsur pictures shutting a city in and pressing on it, cutting it off from food and from help.

Ezekiel 4:3 וְצַרְתָּ֣ and you will lay siege

Then take an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between yourself and the city. Turn your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 5:3 וְצַרְתָּ֥ and you will confine

But you are to take a few strands of hair and secure them in the folds of your garment.

Daniel 1:1 וַיָּ֥צַר and he laid siege

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

Here: 'And he besieged'. The verb means to shut in, confine, or bind, and with 'against' it is the standard term for putting a city under siege. It does not say how long the siege lasted or how it ended. Verse 2 gives the result.