To restrain
עָצַרStrong’s H6113atsar (a-tsar)
Appears in 46 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Atsar is the Hebrew word usually translated “shut up”, “it was restrained” and “retain”. It appears in 46 verses of the Old Testament.
“Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.”
Meaning
- To restrain, retain, close up, shut, withhold, refrain, stay, detain(Qal) · (Niphal) to be restrained, be stayed, be under restraint
How it's translated
- shut up 8
- and it was restrained 4
- she will retain 2
- so it may be restrained 2
- when are shut up 2
- and shut up 2
- he has restrained me 1
- certainly 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- 2 Chronicles 7
- 1 Samuel 4
- 1 Kings 4
- 2 Kings 4
- Jeremiah 4
- Numbers 3
16 books in all.
Related words
Explore in Scripture
- Daniel 10:16In contextAnd, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.
- Daniel 11:6In contextAnd in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king’s daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times.
- Genesis 16:2And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
- Genesis 20:18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
- Numbers 16:48And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
- Numbers 16:50And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.
All 46 verses, by book
Hebrew dictionary
עָצַר atsar · to restrain
1) to restrain, retain, close up, shut, withhold, refrain, stay, detain 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to restrain, halt, stop 1a2) to retain 1b) (Niphal) to be restrained, be stayed, be under restraint
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “restrain” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
RESTRA'IN, verb transitive
[Latin restringo; re and stringo, to strain. The letter g appears from the participle to be casual; stringo, for strigo. Hence strictus, strict, stricture. If the two letters st are removed, the word rigo coincides exactly, in primary sense, with Latin rego, rectus, right, and the root of reach, stretch, straight.]
- To hold back; to check; to hold from action, proceeding or advancing, either by physical or moral force, or by an interposing obstacle.
- To repress; to keep in awe; as, to restrain offenders.
- To suppress; to hinder or repress; as, to restrain excess.
- To abridge; to hinder from unlimited enjoyment; as, to restrain one of his pleasure or of his liberty.
All definitions
- To limit; to confine.
- To withhold; to forbear.“Thou restrainest prayer before God” Job 15:4
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.