to afflict
a.nah describes causing hardship or humiliation, including abuse and self-imposed humbling, in the Bible.
The term most often marks hardship imposed on people through oppression, burdens, punishment, or testing; it also occurs for sexual mistreatment and for persons humbling or denying themselves. The supplied verses show both human agents inflicting this treatment and God associated with hardship intended to test, while several ritual and prayer contexts describe self-directed humbling.
Senses in use
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Imposing hardship, oppression, or suffering · dominant
In Exodus 1:11 the Piel infinitive describes taskmasters imposing burdens on Israel, and Deuteronomy 26:6 places the action beside hard labor imposed by the Egyptians. In Deuteronomy 8:2 and Deuteronomy 8:3, Piel forms occur in the wilderness context where hardship and hunger are paired with testing; in 2 Kings 17:20 the APB renders the clause "afflicted them" before giving Israel into plunderers' hands.
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Sexual mistreatment or violation · common
In 2 Samuel 13:14, the Piel sequential imperfect appears in the account where Amnon overpowers Tamar, forces her, and lies with her; later references to the same event use Piel perfect and infinitive forms in 2 Samuel 13:22 and 2 Samuel 13:32. Deuteronomy 22:29 likewise uses a Piel perfect after describing a man who lay with the maiden and then requires that he not send her away.
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Humbling or denying oneself · occasional
The Hithpael imperative in Genesis 16:9 directs Hagar to place herself under her mistress's hand, and the Hithpael infinitive in Daniel 10:12 is used of Daniel before God. In Leviticus 23:27 and Leviticus 23:32, Piel forms are directed toward the people's own souls on the day of atonement; Isaiah 58:3 and Isaiah 58:5 place the action in fasting language.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses "afflict" or "afflicted," while contexts of burdens, sexual mistreatment, and fasting are also rendered with wording such as "mistreated," "forced," and "deny yourselves." Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, those variations describe the clauses' contexts rather than separate fixed English equivalents.