יָצַר yâtsar — to press (intransitive), i.e. be narrow
Translated in the KJV as be distressed, be narrow, be straitened, be vexed.
a primitive root; to press (intransitive), i.e. be narrow; figuratively, be in distress.
yâtsar in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Wayyiqtol 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 4
And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
Hiph'il
Wayyiqtol 1
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›