3 ms·

Could not the meaning change over the centuries ?

• foolswisdom 3y ago
  Sort of. Hebrew was not a primary spoken language, so it was much more static than other languages, so you can generally assume similar use across long periods of time. But in practice, yes, you definitely do find evolving usage of terms.
• litre 3y ago
  For the word on its own? Absolutely. Even in the bible we find instances of variations of להחזיק used in the meaning "to strengthen" (as seen in Nehemiah 3, for example). In this specific instance, however, it's used as part of a well known phrase throughout the Talmudic and the later rabbinical literature (whose source is from Ezekiel, as noam_k helpfully noted).