standing

Distinctions

amidah (עמידה), omed (עומד)

Over five hundred times in Tanach. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: simply remaining in one place in an upright position. The shittim beams are omdim (Shemos 26:15) because they are erect and stay put; the moon at Givon amad (Yehoshua 10:13) because it halted where it was. Malbim: a general term for the bodily posture that is the opposite of sitting, lying or walking. Wertheimer, from the other side of his own distinction: amidah can even be momentary.

nitzav (נצב)

Frequent in the Mitzrayim narrative: Miriam vatetatzav at a distance from the basket (Shemos 2:4), the men nitzavim to meet Moshe and Aharon on their way out from Pharaoh, whom the Gemara (Nedarim 64b) identifies as Dasan and Aviram (Shemos 5:20), and Moshe told v'nitzavta at the river's edge before makkas dam (Shemos 7:15).

• Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 48:7, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:21, Shocher Tov to Tehillim 22:19, Pesikta Rabbasi 15): nitzav means etimos, prepared or ready. Targum bears this out, rendering nitzav cognates with the root ע-ת-ד, which gives asid, prepared (Bereishis 28:13; Shemos 2:4, 8:16, 34:2; Shmuel I 1:16).
• Pappenheim: nitzav is standing for a specific purpose. Yaakov's ladder is mutzav (Bereishis 28:12) because it was set up in place so as to be used for going up and down. He traces it to the biliteral צ-ב, stationing, whence yatziv (well-grounded), tzvi (desire, what stands constantly before one's mind), tzava (an army, men stationed in formation), tzavah (bloated, stuck in place), tzav (turtle) and tzav (covered wagon). Parts of this are cited by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg (HaKesav VeHaKabbalah) and by the Malbim (Yair Ohr).
• Malbim: nitzav is actively and deliberately presenting oneself, standing with effort, whether standing up to enemies, standing before someone important, or standing over something to supervise it. Radak (to Shmuel I 19:20) implies the same.
• Wertheimer: nitzav is prolonged, continuous standing, which is why an erected stone is a matzeivah, meant to stand long. On his reading amidah is what may be brief.

A minority reading, and its own author concedes counter-proofs: Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro of Dinov holds that nitzav is standing anew (a man who had been sitting and rises), while amidah fits one already standing. His pesukim: hisyatzvu ur'u es yeshuas Hashem (Shemos 14:13), where Moshe tells the people to change stance for the miracle, against Avraham odenu omed lifnei Hashem (Bereishis 18:22), where Avraham had been standing already. He applies it to Yeshayahu 3:13, nitzav lariv Hashem v'omed ladin amim: judging Klal Yisrael is a departure from Hashem's default of mercy, so nitzav; judging the nations is His standing default, so omed. Rashi there reads the same pasuk as hasty and merciful judgment for Yisrael against thorough judgment for the nations, and notes that omed carries the sense of something drawn out or held up.

the word-switches

Three places where both roots describe one scene, and each source uses the switch as its proof:

• Shemos 18:13-14. The narrator: vayaamod ha'am al Moshe from morning to evening. Yisro: madua atah yoshev levadecha v'chol ha'am nitzav alecha. Rabbi Shimon Dov Ber Analak: Yisro assumed they stood in anticipation, each waiting his turn for judgment, so nitzav; the narrator says amidah because they stood simply as talmidim stand before a rebbi (Rambam, Hilchos Talmud Torah 4:2), which is precisely Moshe's answer, that they came to learn Torah.
• Bereishis 24:13 against 24:30. Eliezer davens hinei anochi nitzav al ein hamayim, deliberately posted there to find the girl; later, once Rivkah is identified, he is omed al hagemalim. Mecklenburg: the second is standing with no further object, just watching the camels.
• Divrei HaYamim II 20:17. Yehoshafat: hisyatzvu imdu ur'u es yeshuas Hashem. Metzudas David: he doubles the words to rouse the men, and here they are synonymous. Malbim keeps his distinction: first nitzav, exert yourselves to stand and watch, then amidah, you need do nothing at all, the miracle will be plain before you.

Rendering guidance

• Default: amidah "stood," nitzav "stood ready" or "took up his stand." Where the anticipation is the point, "posted himself" and "stationed himself" are better still.
• Shemos 18:13-14: "the people stood over Moshe" for the narrator, "the whole people stands waiting on you" for Yisro. If both read "stand," Rabbi Analak's reading disappears from the page.
• Yeshayahu 3:13: "Hashem takes His stand to contend, and He stands to judge the nations." Two different English verbs are required; the whole derashah is the switch.
• Divrei HaYamim II 20:17: "take your stand, stand firm, and see the salvation of Hashem." If following Metzudas David, "stand fast, stand still" as a rousing doublet is fine, but say which reading is taken.
• Trap: English "stand" absorbs both roots completely, and the passages that matter are exactly the ones where both appear. Where only one root appears in a narrative and nothing turns on it, plain "stood" is right for either; reserve the marked rendering for the contrasts.
• Matzeivah stays transliterated (a monument or single-stone altar), not "pillar," when Wertheimer's derivation from long standing is in play.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Parshas Bo: Please Stand Up," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 6 Shvat 5783 (2023-01-28): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/10810-parshas-bo-please-stand-up.md. Primary loci: Bereishis 18:22, 24:13, 24:30, 28:12, 28:13; Shemos 2:4, 5:20, 7:15, 8:16, 14:13, 18:13-14, 26:15, 34:2; Yehoshua 10:13; Shmuel I 1:16, 19:20; Yeshayahu 3:13; Divrei HaYamim II 20:17; Esther 3:14 (Targum Sheini); Nedarim 64b; Bereishis Rabbah 48:7; Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:21; Shocher Tov to Tehillim 22:19; Pesikta Rabbasi 15; Rambam, Hilchos Talmud Torah 4:2; Pappenheim on the root צ-ב, cited in HaKesav VeHaKabbalah and Yair Ohr.