לָחַץ
la.chats
to oppress
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Lachats (לָחַץ): Understanding Biblical Oppression The Hebrew word *lachats* carries the fundamental meaning "to oppress," describing an action of pressure or constraint imposed on another person or group. With 19 occurrences in the biblical text, the word appears with sufficient frequency to establish its semantic range and contextual patterns. The term focuses on the exercise of force or coercive power—the act of pressing down upon someone in a manner that diminishes their freedom or wellbeing. In biblical usage, *lachats* functions as a straightforward descriptor of harmful interpersonal or collective dynamics. Its 19 appearances suggest the concept was important enough to the biblical writers to warrant repeated reference, yet not so dominant as to require extensive variation in expression. The word appears suited to describing situations where one party exerts controlling pressure over another, whether in individual encounters or broader social structures. This consistent meaning across its attestations indicates that the biblical authors used *lachats* reliably to convey the specific notion of oppression as a form of coercive pressure. The significance of *lachats* lies in its linguistic precision: it identifies oppression not as abstract injustice but as a concrete action—the pressing, constraining force applied by one agent against another. This specificity would have made it a useful term for biblical writers describing real situations of hardship, servitude,
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
19 total occurrences across the text
Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand.
Psalms 56:1Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me.
Isaiah 19:20It will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.
Jeremiah 30:20Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them.
Amos 6:14For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”
Exodus 3:9Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Exodus 22:21“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:9“You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Numbers 22:25The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. He struck her again.
Numbers 22:25The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall. He struck her again.
Judges 1:34The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;
Judges 2:18When Yahweh raised up judges for them, then Yahweh was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it grieved Yahweh because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.
Judges 4:3The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and he mightily oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years.
Judges 6:9I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land.
Judges 10:12The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.
1 Samuel 10:18and he said to the children of Israel, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’
2 Kings 6:32But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Then the king sent a man from before him; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Behold, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door shut against him. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”
2 Kings 13:4Jehoahaz begged Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.
2 Kings 13:22Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.