Original Word: צוֹק
Part of Speech: noun masculine; noun feminine
Transliteration: tsowq
Pronunciation: tsoke
Phonetic Spelling: (tsoke)
KJV: anguish, X troublous
Word Origin: [from H6693 (צּוּק - oppress)]

1. a strait, i.e. (figuratively) distress

anguish, troublous

Or (feminine) tsuwqah {tsoo-kaw'}; from tsuwq; a strait, i.e. (figuratively) distress -- anguish, X troublous.

see HEBREW tsuwq

צוֺק noun [masculine] si vera lectio, constraint, distress; — וּבְצוֺק הָעִתִּים Daniel 9:25 usually in distressful times; Gr ׳וּבְקֵץ וגו (so ᵐ5 [Daniel 9:27] ᵑ6), as beginning of Daniel 9:26, omitting וְ in וְאחרי (compare Bev Marti).

צוּקָה noun feminine pressure, distress; — national Isaiah 8:22 (+צָרָה), compare ׳אֶרֶץ צָרָה וְצ Isaiah 30:6; personal ׳צָרָה וְצ Proverbs 1:27.

Essential Sense

This word portrays an intense squeeze of the soul or of outward circumstances—pressure so tight that it produces inner turmoil and outward hardship. In every canonical setting it speaks of a constriction that is both real and inescapable unless the hand of the LORD intervenes.

Canonical Occurrences

• Proverbs 1:27 sets the tone: wisdom warns that “distress and anguish” will engulf the unteachable as swiftly as a stormcloud. The usage makes clear that this pressure is the inevitable consequence of rejecting God’s counsel.
• Isaiah 8:22 widens the horizon: apostate Judah will look across the land and find only “distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish,” a picture of national and spiritual suffocation.
• Isaiah 30:6 applies the term to geography—a “land of trouble and anguish”—showing that human schemes cannot tame a landscape where divine judgment broods.
• Daniel 9:25 uses the word in prophetic chronology: Jerusalem will indeed be rebuilt after exile, yet amid “times of distress,” underscoring that redemptive progress in history often unfolds through pressure rather than ease.

Historical Layer

In the eighth-century prophecies of Isaiah the term describes the Assyrian crisis, when political oppression mirrored spiritual rebellion. Daniel, writing in the context of Persian ascendancy, links the same word to future hardship under successive Gentile empires. Across centuries the vocabulary of pressure remains stable, revealing a unified biblical theology of judgment and deliverance.

Theological Thread

1. Judgment: Distress is never arbitrary; it is covenantal. It confronts sin (Proverbs 1:27) and exposes idolatry (Isaiah 8:22).
2. Mercy: The presence of anguish presupposes the possibility of relief. Daniel’s timeline places distress on the road that culminates in the Messiah. The very announcement of hardship therefore functions as a pledge that God governs the timetable.
3. Eschatology: Later prophets speak of a “time of distress” preceding final deliverance (for example, Daniel 12:1). The scattered references to this word anticipate that climactic travail.

Pastoral and Missional Implications

• Preaching: Use the term to show that God’s warnings are acts of love. Anguish is a wake-up call, not merely a sentence.
• Counseling: Many believers describe their plight as “squeezed on every side.” Scripture legitimizes that vocabulary and redirects sufferers to the One who enlarges our boundaries (Psalm 118:5).
• Mission: Isaiah 30:6 reminds the Church that human ingenuity cannot remove ultimate distress. The gospel alone penetrates lands and hearts marked by trouble and anguish.

Christological Fulfillment

The pressure motif reaches its zenith in Gethsemane, where the Messiah is “crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). The anguish that once signified judgment upon the guilty is borne by the Innocent, opening the door for every contrite sinner to exchange constriction for the spacious grace of salvation.

Summary

Whether describing personal calamity, national catastrophe, or prophetic timetable, this word consistently depicts a divine squeeze that exposes sin and drives people toward the only true refuge—YHWH revealed in the promised Messiah.

וְצוּקָ֜ה וְצוּקָֽה׃ וּבְצ֖וֹק ובצוק וצוקה וצוקה׃ צוּקָ֔ה צוקה ṣū·qāh ṣūqāh tzuKah ū·ḇə·ṣō·wq ūḇəṣōwq uvTzok vetzuKah wə·ṣū·qāh wəṣūqāhInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts