To cramp , literally or figuratively, transitive or intransitive
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H6887 is a Hebrew verb for binding, confining, constricting, besieging, oppressing, causing distress, or acting as an adversary. Amos 5:12 condemns people who oppress the righteous through bribery and deprive the poor of justice at the gate, locating distress within corrupt public power.
Reader summary
Full entry for צָרַר (H6887) · Open the biblical lexicon
H6887 is a Hebrew verb for binding, confining, constricting, besieging, oppressing, causing distress, or acting as an adversary. Amos 5:12 condemns people who oppress the righteous through bribery and deprive the poor of justice at the gate, locating distress within corrupt public power.
The BSB source-word alignment has 53 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the enemy (4), my enemies (3), I am in distress (2), in labor (2), they have persecuted me (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 12:34. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (18), Esther (4), Numbers (4), 2 Chronicles (3).
H6887 is a Hebrew verb for binding, confining, constricting, besieging, oppressing, causing distress, or acting as an adversary. Amos 5:12 condemns people who oppress the righteous through bribery and deprive the poor of justice at the gate, locating distress within corrupt public power. Second Samuel 20:3 describes David placing ten concubines under guard for the rest of their lives, a sobering confinement that should not be softened into a neutral household arrangement.
First Samuel 25:29 uses the binding image positively when Abigail says David's life will be bound securely in the bundle of the living with the Lord. Other uses concern siege, enemies, grief, labor pains, narrow spaces, testimony sealed, and guilt stored up. H6887 opens pressure, hostility, protection, restriction, oppression, and grief. It corrects readings that call every adversary evil or treat confinement by a powerful ruler as automatically protective and righteous.
H6887 gathers senses of tightness and binding: wrapping or securing, constricting space, besieging, distressing, oppressing, and becoming an adversary. The agent, affected person, purpose, power, and outcome distinguish protection from harm.
For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.
The prophet condemns bribery that oppresses the righteous and blocks the poor from justice in the gate.
When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.
David confines ten concubines under guard for life after Absalom's abuse of royal power, leaving the women to bear lasting consequences.
And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the Lord your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
Abigail uses a bundle image for David's life held securely by the Lord while violent enemies are cast away.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Constriction metaphor: physical cramping extends to psychological/spiritual distress, oppression, and enemy hostility.
Constriction metaphor: physical cramping extends to psychological/spiritual distress, oppression, and enemy hostility.
to cramp, literally or figuratively, transitive or intransitive BDB: confine Usage: adversary, (be in) afflict(-ion), beseige, bind (up), (be in, bring) distress, enemy, narrower, oppress, pangs, shut up, be in a strait (trouble), vex.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 53 lexical occurrence verses.
צָרַר is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H6887 exposes the moral ambiguity of binding. Abigail's image pictures a life held securely by God. Elsewhere cities are besieged, people are oppressed, grief constricts, and vulnerable women are confined by royal decision. Second Samuel 20:3 reports David's provision for the concubines but also their lifelong isolation after they were used in Absalom's public assault on David's house.
Description is not automatic endorsement, and the women's cost must remain visible. Amos names another constriction: corrupt courts close the gate of justice to the poor. Churches should ask whether policies genuinely protect or primarily contain people whose stories threaten authority. Temporary separation can be necessary for safety, but it requires lawful basis, review, humane care, and attention to the least powerful.
Distress calls for listening and practical aid, not quick diagnosis. God's protection does not license leaders to define critics as enemies, besiege families socially, or bind consciences through threats.
Amos.5.12
H6887 is a verb built around tightness or constriction and can mean bind, wrap, confine, besiege, distress, oppress, or act as an adversary. Related noun-like participial uses may be translated enemy or foe, so syntax and narrative role matter.
The prophets repeatedly join true worship to justice for people constricted by power. Jesus identifies with prisoners and the oppressed, while apostolic teaching commands authorities and communities to exercise discipline without cruelty, partiality, or domination.