atsar · restrain, shut

What it means

atsar (עָצָר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “restrain, shut”.

Hold back, shut, prevent; also rule.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To stop something, like rain or a plague.
2. To keep one's strength to do something, without being left without it.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To shut, to hold back, to stop: to keep something from coming out or going on, whether the rain, a womb, a plague or a person. BDB also records the sense of ‘rule’, having command or strength, which is that of some fixed phrases.

• YHWH shuts the heavens or the womb Deuteronomy 11:171 Kings 8:35Genesis 20:18
• The plague was stopped Numbers 16:48Numbers 25:82 Samuel 24:25
• Detaining someone; being restrained, shut up Judges 13:15Jeremiah 33:1Jeremiah 36:5
• “A fire burning, shut up in my bones” Jeremiah 20:9
• Having command; having strength 1 Samuel 9:171 Chronicles 29:14

Historical and cultural background

In the temple prayer, Solomon asks YHWH to hear “when the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you” (1 Kings 8:35). The plague of the sin of Baal-peor was held back when Phinehas killed the guilty (Numbers 25:8).

How we translate it

The rendering follows the sense: “shut up” (6 times), “restrained” (5), “was stopped” (4) or “was held back” for the plague, “detain” for a person (Judges 13:15). The expression עָצוּר וְעָזוּב is rendered word for word, “restrained and left” (1 Kings 14:10). With the sense of ruling, “will have command” in 1 Samuel 9:17 and “have strength” in 1 Chronicles 29:14.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• shut up ×6
• restrained ×5
• kept ×4
• retain ×4
• was stopped ×4
• held back ×3
• detained ×2
• hold back ×2
• will have ×2
• Let us detain ×1
• others ×13

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Numbers×3
• Deuteronomy×2
• Judges×2
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×4
• 2 Kings×4
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×3
• Psalms×1
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×4
• Daniel×3

• Genesis 16:2

  Sarai said to Abram, “Look, YHWH has kept me from bearing children. Go in please to my slave woman; perhaps I will have children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

• Genesis 20:18

  For YHWH had completely closed every womb in the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

• Numbers 16:48

  And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

• Numbers 16:50

  Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

• Numbers 25:8

  He went after the man of Israel into the alcove and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through her belly. And the plague was held back from the sons of Israel.

• Deuteronomy 11:17

  and the anger of YHWH be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and the ground does not yield its produce, and you perish quickly from the good land that YHWH is giving you.

• Deuteronomy 32:36

  For YHWH will judge his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their strength is gone and there is no one restrained or left.

• Judges 13:15

  And Manoah said to the angel of YHWH, “Let us detain you, please, and prepare before you a young goat.”

• Judges 13:16

  And the angel of YHWH said to Manoah, “Even if you detain me, I will not eat of your bread; but if you prepare a burnt offering to YHWH, offer it up.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of YHWH.

• 1 Samuel 9:17

  When Samuel saw Saul, YHWH answered him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! This one will have command over my people.”

• 1 Samuel 21:5

  David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us as yesterday and the day before when I set out, and the things of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more today will they be holy in their things!”

• 1 Samuel 21:7

  Now there was a man of the servants of Saul on that day, detained before YHWH; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of the shepherds who belonged to Saul.

• 2 Samuel 24:21

  Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy from you the threshing floor, to build an altar to YHWH, so that the plague may be stopped from the people.”

• 2 Samuel 24:25

  David built there an altar to YHWH and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings. And YHWH heeded the plea for the land, and the plague was stopped from Israel.

• 1 Kings 8:35

  When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and give thanks to your name and turn back from their sin because you afflict them,

• 1 Kings 14:10

  therefore, look, I am bringing evil on the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates against the wall, restrained and left in Israel; and I will sweep away after the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away dung, until it is gone.

• 1 Kings 18:44

  And it happened at the seventh time that he said, “Look, a small cloud, like the palm of a man, is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Hitch your chariot and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’”

• 1 Kings 21:21

  ‘Look, I am bringing evil on you, and I will sweep away after you, and I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against the wall, restrained and left in Israel;

• 2 Kings 4:24

  She saddled the donkey and said to her young man, “Drive and go; do not hold back the riding for me unless I tell you.”

• 2 Kings 9:8

  All the house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against the wall, both the one kept and the one left in Israel.

• 2 Kings 14:26

  For YHWH saw the affliction of Israel, very bitter; there was none kept and none left, and there was no helper for Israel.

• 2 Kings 17:4

  But the king of Assyria found in Hoshea a conspiracy, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and had not brought up tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria detained him and bound him in prison.

• 1 Chronicles 12:1

  Now these are those who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still restrained because of Saul son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, helpers in the war.

• 1 Chronicles 21:22

  David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to YHWH. Give it to me for the full price, so that the plague may be held back from the people.”

• 1 Chronicles 29:14

  For who am I, and who are my people, that we should have strength to offer willingly like this? For from you comes everything, and from your hand we have given to you.

• 2 Chronicles 2:6

  But who will have the strength to build him a house, since the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to offer up in smoke before him?

• 2 Chronicles 6:26

  When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and give thanks to your name and turn from their sin because you afflict them,

• 2 Chronicles 7:13

  If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people,

• 2 Chronicles 13:20

  Jeroboam did not retain strength again in the days of Abijah; and YHWH struck him, and he died.

• 2 Chronicles 14:11

  Asa cried out to YHWH his Elohim and said, “YHWH, there is none like you to help between the mighty and the one without strength. Help us, YHWH our Elohim, for on you we rely, and in your name we have come against this multitude. YHWH, you are our Elohim; do not let mortal man prevail against you.”

• 2 Chronicles 20:37

  Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you allied yourself with Ahaziah, YHWH has made a breach in your works.” And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Tarshish.

• 2 Chronicles 22:9

  He sought Ahaziah, and they captured him —he was hiding in Samaria— and brought him to Jehu, and put him to death; and they buried him, for they said, “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought YHWH with all his heart.” And there was no one in the house of Ahaziah to retain strength for the kingdom.

• Nehemiah 6:10

  And I went into the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, and he was shut in; and he said, “Let us meet at the house of Elohim, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; and by night they are coming to kill you.”

• Job 4:2

  “If one ventures a word with you, will you be weary? But to hold back words, who is able?

• Job 12:15

  Look, he holds back the waters, and they dry up; and he releases them, and they overturn the earth.

• Job 29:9

  princes held back words and laid a hand on their mouth;

• Psalms 106:30

  Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.

• Isaiah 66:9

  Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to give birth? says YHWH. Or shall I, the one who causes birth, shut the womb? says your Elohim.

• Jeremiah 20:9

  And I said, “I will not remember him or speak any more in his name.” But there was in my heart as it were a fire burning, shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot.

• Jeremiah 33:1

  And the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying,

And 6 more times.