Word study
Distress
11 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: distress, distressed. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “distress” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- צָרָה tsârâhid.translated this way 30 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H6869Noun · Translated: distress 30, trouble 20, troubles 6, anguish 5Full study and all 72 verses →
Genesis 35:3 Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
2 Samuel 4:9 But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,
- צַר tsarnarrow, tighttranslated this way 21 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H6862Noun · Translated: enemies 22, foes 22, distress 18, enemy 10Full study and all 106 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
Judges 11:7 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and expel me from my father’s house? Why then have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”
- צָרַר tsârarbind, tie up, be restricted, narrow, scant, crampedtranslated this way 8 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s H6887Verb · Translated: distress 5, foes 4, enemy 4, enemies 4Full study and all 52 verses →
1 Samuel 28:15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
2 Chronicles 28:22 In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 8 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
1 Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a spirit of distress from the LORD began to torment him.
1 Samuel 16:15 Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely a spirit of distress from God is tormenting you.
- מָצוֹק mâtsôqstraitness, straits, stresstranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H4689Noun · Translated: distress 5, distressed 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:53 Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you.
1 Samuel 22:2 And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
- מְצוּקָה metsûqâhid.translated this way 6 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H4691Noun · Translated: distress 6, anguish 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 25:17 The troubles of my heart increase; free me from my distress.
Zephaniah 1:15 That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,
- יָצַר yâtsarpress, be narrow, be in distresstranslated this way 5 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H3334Verb · Translated: distress 2, distressed 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Genesis 32:7 In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.
Judges 2:15 Wherever Israel marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring calamity, just as He had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed.
- רָעַע râabe evil, badtranslated this way 2 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7489Verb · Translated: wicked 9, harm 8, evil 8, evildoers 8Full study and all 97 verses →
Genesis 21:11 Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael.
Genesis 21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
- אָוֶן âventrouble, sorrow, wickednesstranslated this way 2 times of its 68 uses · Strong’s H205Noun · Translated: iniquity 27, evil 6, wicked 6, disaster 3Full study and all 68 verses →
Job 5:6 For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
Habakkuk 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress; the curtains of Midian were trembling.
- מֵצַר mêtsarstraits, distresstranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4712Noun · Translated: distress 2, anguish 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Psalm 118:5 In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free.
Lamentations 1:3 Judah has gone into exile under affliction and harsh slavery; she dwells among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
- צוֹק tsôqconstraint, distresstranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6695Noun · Translated: anguish 2, distress 2Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 30:6 This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.
Daniel 9:25 Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀδημονέω adēmonéōI am troubled, distressedtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G85Verb · Translated: distressed 2, deeply distressed 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 26:37 He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
Mark 14:33 He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
- θλῖψις thlîpsispersecution, affliction, distresstranslated this way 3 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s G2347Noun · Translated: tribulation 9, affliction 6, trouble 5, troubles 5Full study and all 43 verses →
2 Corinthians 2:4 For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.
Philippians 1:17 The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains.
- λυπέω lypéōI pain, grieve, vextranslated this way 2 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s G3076Verb · Translated: sorrow 5, grieve 5, grieved 4, deeply grieved 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Matthew 18:31 When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.
Romans 14:15 If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.
- ἀνάγκη anánkēnecessity, constraint, compulsiontranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G318Noun · Translated: necessary 4, must 2, need 2, distress 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Luke 21:23 How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
1 Thessalonians 3:7 For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we have been reassured about you, because of your faith.
- στενοχωρία stenochōríaa narrow space, great distresstranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4730Noun · Translated: distress 2, calamities 1, difficulties 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Romans 2:9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.