to hold back: to shut in, restrain, or withhold, keeping a person, thing, or force from moving, acting, or being handed over freely
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
At its heart this verb describes one action: keeping something in check so it cannot get out, get through, or be handed over. Hebrew stretches that single picture across situations English tends to keep apart, so one word does the work of "shut up," "restrain," and "withhold."
Three uses grow out of that core:
- shutting a person or an animal inside walls, the way Jeremiah is confined in the palace courtyard
- refusing to give up what another expects, the way the psalmist begs God not to hold back his mercy
- stepping in to stop an action or a flow before it runs on, whether a crowd is halted from bringing more gifts or the rain itself is shut off from the sky
What ties these together is direction: something wants to move, leave, or pour out, and this verb is the hand that holds it back. When Scripture wants only the bare idea of denying a request it often reaches for מנע or חשׂך; this verb adds the extra note of penning in or damming up, of an enclosure or a barrier that keeps the thing where it is.
Nuances
1ato shut in or confine: to imprison a person or pen up an animal behind walls
1Sa 6:10Psa 88:8(9)Jer 32:2Jer 32:3
1bto hold back or restrain: to stop a person, an action, or a natural force from going forward
Gen 8:2Exo 36:6Num 11:281Sa 25:33Psa 40:9(10)Psa 119:101Ecc 8:8Ezk 31:15
1cto withhold: to refuse to give up or hand over something another looks for
Gen 23:6Psa 40:11(12)Isa 43:6Hag 1:10 (2×)