mats.tsah denotes conflict or contention, portrayed as arising from arrogance, loved with transgression, and accompanying improper fasting.

The attested use consistently concerns conflict or contention: Proverbs links it with arrogance and transgression, while Isaiah places it within fasting undertaken for contention and violence.

1. Conflict and contention · dominant

   The feminine singular absolute form occurs in Proverbs 13:10, where the APB renders the clause “Strife arises only through arrogance,” and in Proverbs 17:19, where loving transgression is paired with loving “strife.” In Isaiah 58:4 the same form occurs in a rebuke of fasting “for strife and contention” and striking with a wicked fist.

   Isaiah 58:4Proverbs 13:10Proverbs 17:19

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term as “strife” in Proverbs 13:10 and Proverbs 17:19, and within “strife and contention” in Isaiah 58:4. That variation does not establish separate senses.