tsaak · cry out

What it means

tsaak (צָעַק) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “cry out”.

Call for help or justice; also summon.

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 shout for help or justice.
2. To be gathered for war.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To cry out, to call: the cry of one who asks for help or justice in the face of danger or abuse. It is a close relative of זָעַק (H2199), with the same sense. From it comes צְעָקָה, ‘cry’. In the passive it means to be summoned, called with a shout to gather.

• Crying out to YHWH in distress Exodus 14:10Psalms 107:6Deuteronomy 26:7
• The cry of the oppressed, which God hears Genesis 4:10Exodus 22:23
• The cry for help of a person in danger Deuteronomy 22:242 Kings 6:5
• Being summoned to war or to an assembly Judges 10:171 Samuel 10:17

Historical and cultural background

The law of Exodus 22 protects the poor, the widow and the orphan with this verb: “if he does cry out to me, I will surely hear his cry” (Exodus 22:23). In Deuteronomy 22:24 crying out in the city is the sign that the young woman did not consent.

How we translate it

Almost always “cry out”: “cried out” 26 times, “cry out” 17, also when it is the cry of someone in a concrete danger (“she did not cry out in the city”, Deuteronomy 22:24; “He will not cry out”, Isaiah 42:2). In the passive it is rendered “were summoned” (5 times) and in the causative “summoned” (1 Samuel 10:17).

How it is translated

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

• cried out ×26
• cry out ×17
• were summoned ×5
• was crying out ×2
• crying out ×1
• he cries out ×1
• if one cries ×1
• summoned ×1
• they were called out ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Exodus×10
• Numbers×3
• Deuteronomy×3
• Joshua×1
• Judges×6
• 1 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×8
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×2
• Psalms×5
• Isaiah×5
• Jeremiah×3
• Lamentations×1

• Genesis 4:10

  And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.

• Genesis 27:34

  When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me too, my father!”

• Genesis 41:55

  When all the land of Egypt was hungry, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he tells you do.”

• Exodus 5:8

  But the quota of bricks that they were making before you shall impose on them; you shall not reduce any of it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our Elohim.’

• Exodus 5:15

  Then the supervisors of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you treat your servants this way?

• Exodus 8:12

  Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to YHWH concerning the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh.

• Exodus 14:10

  As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and look, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were very afraid, and the sons of Israel cried out to YHWH.

• Exodus 14:15

  YHWH said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the sons of Israel, that they move on.

• Exodus 15:25

  He cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a tree; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them.

• Exodus 17:4

  Moses cried out to YHWH, saying, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me.”

• Exodus 22:23

  If you do afflict him —for if he does cry out to me, I will surely hear his cry—

• Exodus 22:27

  for it is his only covering; it is his cloak for his skin. In what shall he sleep? And when he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

• Numbers 11:2

  And the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to YHWH, and the fire died down.

• Numbers 12:13

  And Moses cried out to YHWH, saying, “El, please, heal her, please.”

• Numbers 20:16

  And we cried out to YHWH, and he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And look, we are in Kadesh, a city at the edge of your territory.

• Deuteronomy 22:24

  then you shall bring out both of them to the gate of that city and stone them with stones so that they die: the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humiliated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

• Deuteronomy 22:27

  because he found her in the field; the engaged young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.

• Deuteronomy 26:7

  And we cried out to YHWH, the Elohim of our fathers, and YHWH heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression.

• Joshua 24:7

  And they cried out to YHWH, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and it covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness many days.

• Judges 4:3

  The sons of Israel cried out to YHWH, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had oppressed the sons of Israel with force twenty years.

• Judges 7:23

  The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali, from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

• Judges 7:24

  Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to meet Midian and capture ahead of them the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.

• Judges 10:12

  And the Sidonians, Amalek, and Maon oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you from their hand.

• Judges 10:17

  The sons of Ammon were summoned and camped in Gilead, and the sons of Israel gathered and camped at Mizpah.

• Judges 12:1

  The men of Ephraim were summoned, crossed to Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon and not call us to go with you? Your house we will burn over you with fire!”

• 1 Samuel 10:17

  And Samuel summoned the people to YHWH at Mizpah.

• 1 Samuel 13:4

  All Israel heard it said, “Saul has struck the garrison of the Philistines, and also Israel has become odious to the Philistines.” And the people were summoned after Saul at Gilgal.

• 1 Kings 20:39

  And it happened, as the king was passing by, that he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and there, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if he is missing at all, your life will be for his life, or you will weigh out a talent of silver.’

• 2 Kings 2:12

  Elisha was watching and he was crying out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he did not see him again. Then he took hold of his clothes and tore them in two pieces.

• 2 Kings 3:21

  All Moab heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, and they were called out, all from those who could gird on a belt and upward, and they stood at the border.

• 2 Kings 4:1

  A woman, one of the wives of the sons of the prophets, cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared YHWH; and the creditor has come to take my two children for himself as slaves.”

• 2 Kings 4:40

  They poured out some for the men to eat. And it happened, as they were eating from the stew, that they cried out and said, “Death is in the pot, man of Elohim!” And they could not eat it.

• 2 Kings 6:5

  And it happened, as one was felling a beam, that the iron fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, my lord! And it was borrowed!”

• 2 Kings 6:26

  And it happened, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, that a woman cried out to him, saying, “Save me, my lord the king!”

• 2 Kings 8:3

  And it happened, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, and she went out to cry out to the king for her house and for her field.

• 2 Kings 8:5

  And it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life the dead, that, look, the woman whose son he had restored to life was crying out to the king for her house and for her field. Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”

• 2 Chronicles 13:14

  Judah turned, and look, they had the battle in front and behind; and they cried out to YHWH, and the priests were blowing the trumpets.

• 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.

• Job 19:7

  Look, I cry out, ‘Violence,’ and I am not answered; I call for help, and there is no judgment.

• Job 35:12

  There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the haughtiness of evil men.

And 15 more times.