Definition

to inclose; by analogy, to hold back; also to maintain, rule, assemble

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• be able
• close up
• detain
• fast
• keep (self close
• still)
• prevail
• recover
• refrain
• reign
• restrain
• retain
• shut (up)
• slack
• stay
• stop
• withhold (self)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.