צָרָה

From the study of Nahum 1:7

Range of meaning

Distress, trouble, anguish, a tight spot. It comes from the root tsarar, 'to be narrow, to bind, to hem in'. The opposite picture in Hebrew poetry is the 'broad place' (merchav) of release (Ps 18:19; 118:5).

Against the English

'Trouble' (KJV, ESV, WEB) and 'distress' (BSB, YLT) are both fair. Neither carries the physical image of narrowness and being hemmed in that a Hebrew speaker would feel in the word.

Used elsewhere in the period

'Day of distress' is a fixed phrase: Gen 35:3 (Jacob's God 'who answered me in the day of my distress'); Ps 20:1(2); 50:15; 86:7; Obad 12, 14; Hab 3:16. Above all 2 Kgs 19:3 / Isa 37:3, where King Hezekiah, with Sennacherib's Assyrian army around Jerusalem in 701 BC, says: 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace.' In Zeph 1:15 it describes the Day of Yahweh.

From the study of Proverbs 17:17

Range of meaning

Distress, trouble, anguish, adversity. It comes from the root ṣrr, "to be narrow, tight, hemmed in". The "day of distress" (Gen 35:3; Prov 24:10; 25:19) is the moment of crisis: war, famine, debt, illness, danger.

Against the English

"Adversity" (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB) is accurate but abstract. NIV adds "a time of", which makes the link to "every time" in the first line clearer. NLT's "time of need" softens it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 24:10, "If you faint in the day of distress, your strength is small"; 25:19, trusting an unfaithful man "in the day of distress" is like a broken tooth. In the Psalms the word is a stock term for being hemmed in by enemies (Ps 46:1, "a very present help in trouble").

From the study of Psalm 77:2

Range of meaning

Distress, trouble, anguish; literally narrowness, a tight place. It comes from the root ṣrr, 'to bind, be cramped, be narrow'. It can also mean the pangs of a woman in labour (Jeremiah 4:31; 49:24).

Against the English

'Trouble' (BSB, KJV, WEB) and 'distress' (YLT) are accurate but flat. They lose the physical picture of being squeezed and hemmed in, which Hebrew often contrasts with God giving 'a broad place' (Psalm 4:1; 18:19; 118:5).

Used elsewhere in the period

'Day of distress' (yom ṣarah) is a fixed phrase: Genesis 35:3 (Jacob), 2 Kings 19:3 (Hezekiah under Assyrian siege), Psalm 20:1, 50:15, 86:7, Nahum 1:7. The Septuagint usually translates it thlipsis, 'pressure, affliction', which keeps the idea of being pressed.