Definition

to restrain or (reflex.) refrain; by implication, to refuse, spare, preserve; to observe

Etymology

a primitive root; also interchangeable with H2821 (חָשַׁךְ)

Where the KJV renders it

• assuage
• darken
• forbear
• hinder
• hold back
• keep (back)
• punish
• refrain
• reserve
• spare
• withhold

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.