Tribulation

trouble or affiction of any kind (Deut. 4:30; Matt. 13:21; 2 Cor. 7:4). In Rom. 2:9 "tribulation and anguish" are the penal sufferings that shall overtake the wicked. In Matt. 24:21, 29, the word denotes the calamities that were to attend the destruction of Jerusalem.

1. In the Old Testament:

Closely pressed, as of seals (Job 41:15 (7)); of streams pent up (Isa 59:9 margin); of strength limited (Prov 24:10, "small"). Hence, figuratively, of straitened circumstances; variously rendered "affliction," "tribulation," "distress" (Dt 4:30; Job 15:24; 30:12; Ps 4:2; 18:7; 32:7; 44:11, etc.; 78:42; 102:3; 106:44; 119:143; Isa 26:16; 30:20; Hos 5:15; Ezek 30:16). Frequently, the feminine form (tsarah) is similarly rendered "tribulation" (Jdg 10:14 the King James Version; 1 Sam 10:19 the King James Version; 1 Sam 26:24); in other places "distress," "affliction" (Gen 42:21; Ps 120:1; Prov 11:8; 2 Ch 20:9; Isa 63:9; Jer 15:11; Jon 2:2; Nah 1:9; Zec 10:11).

2. In the New Testament:

The Greek is thlipsis, a "pressing together" (as of grapes), squeezing or pinching (from verb thlibo); used figuratively for "distress," "tribulation"; Septuagint for tsar and tsarah; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) tribulatio pressura (from tribulum, "a threshing sledge"). The verb form is rendered "suffer tribulation" (1 Thess 3:4 the King James Version, "suffer affliction" the Revised Version (British and American)); "trouble" (2 Thess 1:6 the King James Version, "afflict" the Revised Version (British and American); compare 2 Cor 1:6; 4:8; 7:5; 1 Tim 5:10; Heb 11:37). The noun form is rendered in the King James Version variously as "tribulation," "affliction," "persecution," though more uniformly "tribulation" in the Revised Version (British and American). The word is used generally of the hardships which Christ's followers would suffer (Mt 13:21; 24:9,21,29; Mk 4:17; 13:19,24; Jn 16:33; 1 Cor 7:28); or which they are now passing through (Rom 5:3; 12:12; 2 Cor 4:17; Phil 4:14); or through which they have already come (Acts 11:19; 2 Cor 2:4; Rev 7:14).

Edward Bagby Pollard