Hebrew word · H686

אָצַר

'atzeru

to store

Atsar: to store up, lay up in a storehouse (otsar = treasury, storehouse, 2 Kgs 20:17; Amos 3:10). Chasan: in Aramaic 'to possess' (Dan 7:18, 22). The Hebrew verb occurs only here, with related nouns meaning stored riches (Prov 15:6; 27:24; Jer 20:5; Ezek 22:25).

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to store up, save, lay up

1a) (Qal) to store up, make treasurer

1b) (Niphal) treasured

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 23:18

Range of meaning

Atsar: to store up, lay up in a storehouse (otsar = treasury, storehouse, 2 Kgs 20:17; Amos 3:10). Chasan: in Aramaic 'to possess' (Dan 7:18, 22). The Hebrew verb occurs only here, with related nouns meaning stored riches (Prov 15:6; 27:24; Jer 20:5; Ezek 22:25).

Against the English

KJV 'treasured nor laid up' and BSB 'stored or saved' are close. The point is wealth kept as a reserve.

Used elsewhere in the period

Amos 3:10: the rich of Samaria 'store up violence and destruction in their fortresses'. Isa 39:6: everything Hezekiah's fathers 'stored up' will be carried to Babylon. The prophets regularly treat accumulated treasure with suspicion.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 20:17 אָצְר֧וּ they have stored up

    The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 13:13 וָאוֹצְרָ֣ה and I appointed as treasurers !

    I appointed as treasurers over the storerooms Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 23:18 יֵֽאָצֵ֖ר it will be stored up

    Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.

    Here: From the same root as 'otsar', 'treasury, storehouse'. The wealth will not be laid up in a treasury, whether Tyre's own vaults or a temple treasury.

  2. Isaiah 39:6 אָצְר֧וּ they stored up

    The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 3:10 הָאֽוֹצְרִ֛ים those [who] store up

    “For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”

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