tsara · distress

What it means

tsara (צָרָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “distress”.

Trouble, anguish; also a rival wife.

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. A time of hardship or danger.
2. The other wife of the same husband.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Distress, a tight place: the situation in which one is hemmed in with no way out. It comes from the root of narrowness, the same as צַר (distress; adversary; narrow, H6862). In 1 Samuel 1:6 it is the rival, the other wife of the same husband.

• Crying to YHWH in distress Psalms 120:1Psalms 50:15Genesis 35:3
• YHWH, a refuge in the day of distress Psalms 46:1Nahum 1:7
• Anguish like that of a woman giving birth Jeremiah 6:24Jeremiah 50:43
• A “time of distress” that is coming Daniel 12:1Jeremiah 30:7
• The rival wife 1 Samuel 1:6

How we translate it

“Distress” 54 times, “distresses” 10, “anguish” 5 (Jeremiah 6:24), “troubles” 3. The one exception is “rival” in 1 Samuel 1:6, where the word names Peninnah over against Hannah; there the sense of distress does not fit.

How it is translated

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

• distress ×54
• distresses ×10
• anguish ×5
• troubles ×3
• rival ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Deuteronomy×2
• Judges×1
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×2
• Psalms×24
• Proverbs×7
• Isaiah×7
• Jeremiah×8
• Daniel×1
• Obadiah×2
• Jonah×1
• Nahum×2
• Habakkuk×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 35:3

  Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to El who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me on the way that I have gone.”

• Genesis 42:21

  They said to one another, “Indeed we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

• Deuteronomy 31:17

  And my anger will burn against them on that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will find them; and they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because my Elohim is not in my midst that these evils have found me?’

• Deuteronomy 31:21

  And it shall be, when many evils and troubles have found them, that this song will testify before them as a witness, for it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their offspring. For I know their inclination, what they are doing today, before I bring them into the land that I swore.”

• Judges 10:14

  Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”

• 1 Samuel 1:6

  And her rival would provoke her bitterly in order to irritate her, because YHWH had closed up her womb.

• 1 Samuel 10:19

  But you today have despised your Elohim, who himself saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ So now, present yourselves before YHWH by your tribes and by your thousands.”

• 1 Samuel 26:24

  And look, as your life was great this day in my eyes, so may my life be great in the eyes of YHWH, and may he rescue me from all distress.”

• 2 Samuel 4:9

  David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As YHWH lives, who has rescued my life from all distress,

• 1 Kings 1:29

  And the king swore and said, “As YHWH lives, who has rescued my life from every distress,

• 2 Kings 19:3

  They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of contempt; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to give birth.

• 2 Chronicles 15:6

  Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for Elohim threw them into confusion with every distress.

• 2 Chronicles 20:9

  ‘If evil comes upon us —sword, judgment, or pestilence or famine— we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house, and we will cry out to you from our distress, and you will hear and save.’

• Nehemiah 9:27

  So you gave them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them; and in the time of their distress they would cry out to you, and you from the heavens would hear, and according to your many mercies you would give them saviors, and they would save them from the hand of their adversaries.

• Nehemiah 9:37

  And its produce increases for the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins; and over our bodies they rule, and over our livestock, according to their will; and in great distress are we.”

• Job 5:19

  In six distresses he will deliver you, and in seven no evil will touch you.

• Job 27:9

  Will El hear his cry when anguish comes upon him?

• Psalms 9:9

  And YHWH will be a high refuge for the oppressed, a high refuge in times of distress.

• Psalms 10:1

  Why, YHWH, do you stand far off, why do you hide yourself in times of distress?

• Psalms 20:1

  For the director. A psalm of David. May YHWH answer you in the day of distress; may the name of the Elohim of Jacob set you on high.

• Psalms 22:11

  Do not be far from me, for distress is near, for there is no helper.

• Psalms 25:17

  The distresses of my heart have grown wide; from my straits bring me out.

• Psalms 25:22

  Ransom Israel, Elohim, from all his distresses.

• Psalms 31:7

  I will be jubilant and be glad in your loyal love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distresses of my soul,

• Psalms 34:6

  This afflicted one called, and YHWH heard, and from all his distresses he saved him.

• Psalms 34:17

  They cried out, and YHWH heard, and from all their distresses he delivered them.

• Psalms 37:39

  And the salvation of the righteous is from YHWH, their stronghold in the time of distress.

• Psalms 46:1

  For the director. Of the sons of Korah. On Alamot. A song. Elohim is for us a refuge and strength, a help in distresses very easily found.

• Psalms 50:15

  and call on me in the day of distress; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

• Psalms 54:7

  For from every distress he has delivered me, and on my enemies my eye has looked.

• Psalms 71:20

  You who have made me see many distresses and evils, will again give me life, and from the deeps of the earth will again bring me up.

• Psalms 77:2

  In the day of my distress I sought Adonai; my hand by night was stretched out and did not grow numb; my soul refused to be comforted.

• Psalms 78:49

  He sent against them the burning of his anger, wrath and indignation and distress, a dispatch of messengers of evils.

• Psalms 81:7

  In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I examined you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

• Psalms 86:7

  In the day of my distress I will call on you, for you will answer me.

• Psalms 91:15

  He will call on me, and I will answer him; with him I will be in distress; I will rescue him and honor him.

• Psalms 116:3

  The cords of death encompassed me, and the distresses of Sheol found me; distress and sorrow I found.

• Psalms 120:1

  A song of the ascents. To YHWH in my distress I called, and he answered me.

• Psalms 138:7

  If I walk in the midst of distress, you give me life; against the anger of my enemies you stretch out your hand, and your right hand saves me.

• Psalms 142:2

  I pour out before him my complaint; my distress before him I declare.

And 33 more times.