chasach · hold back

What it means

chasach (חָשַׂךְ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “hold back”.

Restrain, keep from; spare.

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 refuse to give something and keep it for oneself.
2. To curb something, like the tongue, or stop someone.
3. To let someone go without collecting what was expected from him.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• hold back ×6
• held back ×4
• withheld ×3
• Whoever holds back ×2
• reserved ×2
• restrain ×2
• restrained ×2
• has spared ×1
• he holds back ×1
• he who restrains ×1
• others ×3

Where it appears

• Genesis×4
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×1
• Ezra×1
• Job×7
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×6
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×1

• Genesis 20:6

  Then Elohim said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this; and I also kept back you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let you touch her.

• Genesis 22:12

  He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me.”

• Genesis 22:16

  and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares YHWH, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only one,

• Genesis 39:9

  He is not greater in this house than I, and he has not withheld from me anything except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against Elohim?”

• 1 Samuel 25:39

  David heard that Nabal had died, and he said, “Blessed be YHWH, who has defended the cause of my insult at the hand of Nabal, and has held back his servant from evil; and the evil of Nabal YHWH has returned on his own head.” David sent and spoke to Abigail to take her to himself as wife.

• 2 Samuel 18:16

  Joab blew the horn, and the people turned back from pursuing after Israel, for Joab held back the people.

• 2 Kings 5:20

  Gehazi, the young man of Elisha the man of Elohim, said, “Look, my master has spared this Naaman, the Aramean, by not taking from his hand what he brought. As YHWH lives, I will surely run after him and take something from him.”

• Ezra 9:13

  And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, for you, our Elohim, have held back punishment below our iniquity, and have given us escapees like these,

• Job 7:11

  So I too will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the distress of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

• Job 16:5

  I could make you firm with my mouth, and the movement of my lips would restrain your pain.

• Job 16:6

  If I speak, my pain is not restrained; and if I cease, what goes away from me?

• Job 21:30

  that for the day of calamity the evil man is reserved, for the day of furies they are carried off?

• Job 30:10

  They abhor me, they keep far from me, and from my face they do not hold back spit.

• Job 33:18

  he holds back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing by the dart.

• Job 38:23

  which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war?

• Psalms 19:13

  Also from the insolent hold back your servant; let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

• Psalms 78:50

  He leveled a path for his anger; he did not hold back their soul from death, and their life to the pestilence he gave over.

• Proverbs 10:19

  In a multitude of words transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent.

• Proverbs 11:24

  There is one who scatters and gains even more, and one who withholds more than is right comes only to need.

• Proverbs 13:24

  Whoever holds back his rod hates his son, but whoever loves him eagerly gives him correction.

• Proverbs 17:27

  Whoever holds back his sayings knows knowledge, and one cool of spirit is a man of insight.

• Proverbs 21:26

  All day long he craves with craving, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

• Proverbs 24:11

  Rescue those being taken to death, and those staggering to the slaughter, if only you would hold them back!

• Isaiah 14:6

  that struck peoples in wrath with blows without ceasing, that ruled the nations in anger with persecution that no one held back.

• Isaiah 54:2

  “Enlarge the place of your tent, and the curtains of your dwellings let them stretch out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords, and your stakes strengthen.

• Isaiah 58:1

  “Cry out with full throat; do not hold back; like the horn lift up your voice, and declare to my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

• Jeremiah 14:10

  Thus says YHWH to this people: “So they have loved to wander; their feet they have not restrained; and YHWH does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”