Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Hebrew verb · H3905

לָחַץ

lachatslaw-khats'

to oppress

19 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: lâchats

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H3905is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 9 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 19
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H3905

properly, to press, i.e. (figuratively) to distress

The King James renders it: afflict, crush, force, hold fast, oppress(-or), thrust self.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

lachats is rendered "to oppress". It stands 19 times in the Hebrew text, across nine books.

  • Five of the uses stand in Judges, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Exodus 3:9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
  • The Greek text spells it nineteen different ways.

The first use

And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

Exodus 3:9לֹחֲצִ֥ים

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Five of the word's nineteen uses are in Judges.

The other 30 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • he oppressed2
  • and it squeezed1
  • and it squeezed itself1
  • and they oppressed them1
  • and they pressed1
  • and they will oppress1
  • and you will push1
  • he had oppressed1
  • he oppresses me1
  • oppress it1
  • oppressed them1
  • oppressed you1

and 6 more, 19 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

לָחַםlachamto fightUses177
לָחַךְlachakto lickUses6
לָחַשׁlachashto whisperUses3

All 19, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

19 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • הַלֹּחֲצִ֖ים1
  • וַיִּלְחֲצ֧וּ1
  • וַיִּלְחָצ֥וּם1
  • וְלָחֲצ֥וּ1
  • וּלְחַצְתֶּ֤ם1
  • וַתִּלְחַ֛ץ1
  • וַתִּלָּחֵץ֙1
  • יִלְחָצֵֽנִי׃1
  • לָחַ֞ץ1
  • לָחַ֥ץ1
  • לָחַ֖ץ1
  • לָחֲצ֖וּ1

and 7 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular3HVqp3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural2HVqrmpa
  • Hc/VNw3fs1Hc/VNw3fs
  • Hc/Vqq2mp1Hc/Vqq2mp
  • Hc/Vqq3cp1Hc/Vqq3cp
  • Hc/Vqw3fs1Hc/Vqw3fs
  • Hc/Vqw3mp1Hc/Vqw3mp
  • Hc/Vqw3mp/Sp3mp1Hc/Vqw3mp/Sp3mp
  • the definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural1HTd/Vqrmpa
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular1HVqi2ms
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqi2ms/Sp3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular1HVqi3ms/Sp1bs

Exodus

three uses
  • And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

    Exodus 3:9

    • לֹחֲצִ֥יםlochatzimverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: oppressing
  • You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

    Exodus 22:21

    • תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּtilchatzenuverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: you must oppress him
  • Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

    Exodus 23:9

    • תִלְחָ֑ץtilchatzverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: you must oppress

Numbers

two uses
  • And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD and pressed herself against the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat her once again.

    Numbers 22:25

    • וַתִּלָּחֵץ֙vatilachetzHc/VNw3fstagged: and it squeezed itself
    • וַתִּלְחַ֛ץvatilchatzHc/Vqw3fstagged: and it squeezed

Judges

five uses
  • The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain.

    Judges 1:34

    • וַיִּלְחֲצ֧וּvaiyilchatzuHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they pressed
  • Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.

    Judges 2:18

    • לֹחֲצֵיהֶ֖םlochatzeihemverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: oppressed them
  • Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

    Judges 4:3

    • לָחַ֞ץlachatzverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he oppressed
  • I delivered you out of the hands of Egypt and all your oppressors. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

    Judges 6:9

    • לֹחֲצֵיכֶ֑םlochatzeikhemverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: oppressed you
  • Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands?

    Judges 10:12

    • לָחֲצ֖וּlachatzuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they oppressed

1 Samuel

one use
  • and said to the Israelites, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hands of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’

    1 Samuel 10:18

    • הַלֹּחֲצִ֖יםhalochatzimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: that were oppressing

2 Kings

three uses
  • Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

    2 Kings 6:32

    • וּלְחַצְתֶּ֤םulechatztemHc/Vqq2mptagged: and you will push
  • Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel.

    2 Kings 13:4

    • לָחַ֥ץlachatzverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he oppressed
  • And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.

    2 Kings 13:22

    • לָחַ֖ץlachatzverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he had oppressed

Psalms

two uses
  • Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day they press their attack.

    Psalms 56:1

    • יִלְחָצֵֽנִי׃yilchatzeniverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: he oppresses me
  • Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand.

    Psalms 106:42

    • וַיִּלְחָצ֥וּםvaiyilchatzumHc/Vqw3mp/Sp3mptagged: and they oppressed them

Isaiah

one use
  • It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them.

    Isaiah 19:20

    • לֹֽחֲצִ֔יםlochatzimverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: oppressors

Jeremiah

one use
  • Their children will be as in days of old, and their congregation will be established before Me; and I will punish all their oppressors.

    Jeremiah 30:20

    • לֹחֲצָֽיו׃lochatzavverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: oppress it

Amos

one use
  • For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

    Amos 6:14

    • וְלָחֲצ֥וּvelachatzuHc/Vqq3cptagged: and they will oppress

The letters

Gematria 128· 938 mispar gadol

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →