Bible Encyclopedias
Anguish

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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 , cūḳ , "straitened," "pressed," and צר , car , and two derivatives signifying "straitness," "narrowness," hence distress; also שׁבץ , shābhāc , "giddiness," "confusion of mind"; חוּל , ḥūl "to twist" with pain, "writhe." So in the New Testament, θλῖψις , thlı̄́psis , "a pressing together," hence affliction, tribulation, στενοχωρία , stenochōrı́a , "narrowness of place," hence extreme affliction; συνοχή , sunochḗ , "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 (Jeremiah 4:31; Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 49:24; Jeremiah 50:43; John 16:21 ); of distress of soul as the result of sin and wickedness (Job 15:24; Proverbs 1:27; Romans 2:9 ); of anguish of spirit through the cruel bondage of slavery (Exodus 6:9 ) and Assyrian oppression (Isaiah 8:22 ); of the anxiety and pain of Christian love because of the sins of fellow-disciples (2 Corinthians 2:4 ).