Straiten

STRAIT; STRAITEN; STRAITLY [ISBE]

STRAIT; STRAITEN; STRAITLY - strat, strat'-'-n, strat'-il: The word "strait" and its compounds are used in English Versions of the Bible in the literal sense of "narrow" (tsar, 2 Ki 6:1; Isa 49:20; mutsaq, Job 37:10; 'atsal, Ezek 42:6) and in the figurative sense of "strict" (shabha`, Ex 13:19; caghar, Josh 6:1; tsarar, "to be distressed," 2 Sam 24:14 parallel; yatsar, Job 20:22; metsar, Lam 1:3). In Apocrypha the verb "straitened" occurs in Susanna verse 22. In the New Testament we have stenos (Mt 7:13 f parallel, the Revised Version (British and American) "narrow"; polus, "much"; so the Revised Version (British and American) Mk 3:12; 5:43; sunecho, "to urge," "hold together," Lk 12:50; Phil 1:23). It occurs in its superlative form in Acts 26:5, "After the straitest (akribestatos, "most exact," "scrupulous") sect of our religion," i.e. "the most precise and rigorous in interpreting the Mosaic Law, and in observing the more minute precepts of the Law and of tradition" (Thayer, Lexicon, under the word; compare Acts 22:3).

See also STRAIGHT, STRAIGHTWAY.

M. O. Evans