to restrain
a.tsar denotes holding something back: stopping a plague or rain, confining people, or retaining strength and speech.
The verb most often marks the stopping or withholding of an event or condition, especially rain and plague; it also describes people being confined or detained and the holding back of strength, speech, or other capacity.
Senses in use
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Stopping or withholding an event or condition · dominant
The verb marks rain being withheld when the heavens are shut in Deuteronomy 11:17 and 2 Chronicles 7:13, while Job 12:15 describes waters being held back so that they dry up. In plague narratives, Niphal forms describe the plague ceasing after an action: in Numbers 25:8 the APB renders that it “was stopped,” and in 2 Samuel 24:25 that it “was stayed.”
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Confining or detaining people · common
Passive participles describe persons as restricted in movement or access: David's men are “restrained” before Saul in 1 Chronicles 12:1, and Jeremiah is “confined” in the court of the Guard in Jeremiah 33:1. In Judges 13:15 and Judges 13:16, Qal forms occur in Manoah's request to detain his visitor.
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Holding back strength, speech, or capacity · common
The term can concern what a person can retain or hold in: Daniel says twice that he retained no strength after the vision in Daniel 10:8 and Daniel 10:16, and Daniel 11:6 says that a woman will not retain the strength of her arm. In Job 29:9 rulers hold back their words, while Jeremiah 20:9 portrays the prophet unable to keep the burning word shut up within himself.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB varies its presentation with the clause: rain and waters are “shut up” or “restrain[ed],” a plague is “stopped,” “restrained,” or “stayed,” and persons are “restrained” or “confined.” These renderings show the verse contexts rather than fixed English equivalents for every occurrence.