to dismay
ba.hal describes being overcome with alarm or dread, and in some forms urgently hurrying or pressing someone on.
The dominant use depicts persons or groups becoming alarmed or distressed in the face of death, danger, divine anger, or shocking news. Other forms describe bringing such distress on others, while a smaller group of contexts presents urgent haste or pressing someone to move quickly.
Senses in use
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Become alarmed or distressed · dominant
Niphal forms regularly mark people affected by alarming circumstances: Joseph's brothers cannot answer after he identifies himself in Genesis 45:3, and the men of Benjamin react when they realize disaster has overtaken them in Judges 20:41. In Exodus 15:15 the APB renders the response of Edom's chiefs as being "dismayed," while Job 21:6 places the speaker's response when remembering alongside shuddering that seizes his flesh.
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Bring alarm or trouble on others · common
Active forms occur where an agent's action affects others: speakers seek "to frighten them and to dismay them" in 2 Chronicles 32:18, and the people of the land are said to trouble and dismay Judah's builders in Ezra 4:4. In Daniel 11:44, news from east and north affects him before he goes out in rage; in Psalm 2:5, speech in anger is followed by terror.
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Hurry or press urgently · occasional
Several non-Niphal forms occur in clauses of rapid action. In Esther 6:14 the king's eunuchs arrive and hurry Haman to Esther's banquet, and Esther 8:14 describes couriers going out "urgently and speedily." Ecclesiastes 5:1 and Ecclesiastes 7:9 use Piel jussives in warnings not to act quickly, while Proverbs 20:21 describes an inheritance "hastened at the first."
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly presents the affected state with "dismayed," "terrified," or "troubled," and it presents the urgent-action contexts with wording such as "hurried" and "urgently." Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, those renderings only indicate the clauses' overall presentation.