To fast
צוּםStrong’s H6684tsum
Appears in 17 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Tsum is the Hebrew word usually translated “fasted”, “fasting” and “fast”. It appears in 17 verses of the Old Testament.
“Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?”
Meaning
- (Qal) to abstain from food, fast
How it's translated
- and they fasted 5
- and he fasted 2
- you fasted 2
- fasting 2
- you fast 2
- i fasted 1
- and we fasted 1
- and fast 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- 2 Samuel 5
- 1 Samuel 2
- Isaiah 2
- Judges 1
- 1 Kings 1
- 1 Chronicles 1
11 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Judges 20:26Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 7:6And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
- 1 Samuel 31:13And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
- 2 Samuel 1:12And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.
- 2 Samuel 12:16David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
- 2 Samuel 12:21Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
Hebrew dictionary
צוּם tsum · to fast
(Qal) to abstain from food, fast
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “fast” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
F'AST, adjective
- Literally, set, stopped, fixed, or pressed close.
- Firm; immovable.“Who by his strength, setteth fast the mountains” Psalms 65:6
- Close; strong.
- Firmly fixed; closely adhering; as, to stick fast in more; to make fast a rope.
All definitions and other forms of “fast”
- Close, as sleep; deep; sound; as a fast sleep.
- Firm in adherence; as a fast friend.
F'AST, adverb
Firmly; immovably.
- “We will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hand” Judges 15:13
F'AST, adjective
[Latin festino. The sense is to press, drive, urge, and it may be from the same root as the preceding word, with a different application.]
F'AST, adverb
Swiftly; rapidly; with quick steps or progression; as, to run fast; to move fast through the water, as a ship; the work goes on fast
F'AST, verb intransitive
- To abstain from food, beyond the usual time; to omit to take the usual meals, for a time; as, to fast a day or a week.
- To abstain from food voluntarily, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, sorrow and affliction.“Thou didst fast and weep for the child” 2 Samuel 12:21“When ye fast be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance” Matthew 6:16
- To abstain from food partially, or from particular kinds of food; as, the Catholics fast in Lent.
F'AST, noun
- Abstinence from food; properly a total abstinence, but it is used also for an abstinence from particular kinds of food, for a certain time.
- Voluntary abstinence from food, as a religious mortification or humiliation; either total or partial abstinence from customary food, with a view to mortify the appetites, or to express grief and affliction on account of some calamity, or to deprecate an expected evil.
- The time of fasting, whether a day, week or longer time.“The fast was now already past” Acts 27:9
F'AST, noun
That which fastens or holds.
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.