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People are often “recognized” by their voices (Judg. 18:3).
:
sometimes has the
meaning of “pay attention to,” a special kind of “recognition”: “Blessed be the man who
took notice of you” (Ruth 2:19,
RSV
,
KJV
, “did take knowledge of”). This verb can mean
“to be acquainted with,” a kind of intellectual awareness: “… Neither shall his place
know him any more” (Job 7:10; cf. Ps. 103:16). The sense of “to distinguish” is seen in
Ezra 3:13: “… The people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise
of the weeping of the people.…”
TO BE DISMAYED
(
""
, 2865), “to be dismayed, shattered, broken, terrified.” Used primarily in
the Hebrew Old Testament, this verb has been identified in ancient Akkadian and
Ugaritic texts by some scholars. The word is used approximately 50 times in the Hebrew
Old Testament and occurs for the first time in Deut. 1:21 as Moses challenged Israel: “Do
not fear or be dismayed” (
RSV
,
NEB
, “afraid”;
KJV
,
JB
, “discouraged”). As here,
is
often used in parallelism with the Hebrew term for “fear” (cf. Deut. 31:8; Josh. 8:1; 1
Sam. 17:11). Similarly,
is frequently used in parallelism with “to be ashamed”
(Isa. 20:5; Jer. 8:9).
An interesting figurative use of the word is found in Jer. 14:4, where the ground “is
dismayed [
KJV
, “chapt”], for there was no rain.” The meaning “to be shattered” is usually
employed in a figurative sense, as with reference to the nations coming under God’s
judgment (Isa. 7:8; 30:31). The coming Messiah is to “shatter” or “break” the power of
all His enemies (Isa. 9:4).
DISTRESS
A. Nouns.
(
, 6869), “distress; straits.” The 70 appearances of
occur in all
periods of biblical literature, although most occurrences are in poetry (poetical,
prophetical, and wisdom literature).
means “straits” or “distress” in a psychological or spiritual sense, which is its
meaning in Gen. 42:21 (the first occurrence): “We are verily guilty concerning our
brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not
hear.…”
(
, 6862), “distress.” This word also occurs mostly in poetry. In Prov. 24:10,
means “scarcity” or the “distress” caused by scarcity. The emphasis of the noun is
sometimes on the feeling of “dismay” arising from a distressful situation (Job 7:11). In
this usage the word
represents a psychological or spiritual status. In Isa. 5:30, the
word describes conditions that cause distress: “… If one look unto the land, behold
darkness and
(
…” (cf. Isa. 30:20). This nuance appears to be the most frequent use
represented by
!
B. Verb.
(
, 6887), “to wrap, tie up, be narrow, be distressed, be in pangs of birth.”
This verb, which appears in the Old Testament 54 times, has cognates in Aramaic, Syriac,
Akkadian, and Arabic. In Judg. 11:7, the word carries the meaning of “to be in distress.”