International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Anguish
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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Anguish
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aṇ´gwish: Extreme distress of body, mind or spirit; excruciating pain or suffering of soul, e.g. excessive grief, remorse, despair. Chiefly expressed in Old Testament, by four derivatives of צוּק, cuÌ„kÌ£, “straitened,†“pressed,†and צר, car, and two derivatives signifying “straitness,†“narrowness,†hence distress; also ש×בץ, shaÌ„bhaÌ„c, “giddiness,†“confusion of mindâ€; חוּל, hÌ£uÌ„l “to twist†with pain, “writhe.†So in the New Testament, θλῖψις, thlı̄Ìpsis, “a pressing together,†hence affliction, tribulation, στενοχωÏιÌα, stenochoÌ„rıÌa, “narrowness of place,†hence extreme affliction; συνοχηÌ, sunocheÌ„Ì, “a holding together,†hence distress. The fundamental idea in these various terms is pressure - being straitened, compressed into a narrow place, or pain through physical or mental torture. Used of the physical agony of child-birth (; ; ; ; ); of distress of soul as the result of sin and wickedness (; ; ); of anguish of spirit through the cruel bondage of slavery () and Assyrian oppression (); of the anxiety and pain of Christian love because of the sins of fellow-disciples ().