how to say “to get in trouble” in Hebrew
Suppose someone you know gets in trouble with the tax authorities… or with her mother in law for saying something about her cooking… or with his wife for saying something about her dress. We might say that such a person has become entangled or caught up in a mess.
In Hebrew, we use the word לְהִסְתַּבֵּך to mean to get caught up in problems (leh-hees-tah-BEHKH). You may recall this word’s source from the עֲקֵדַת יִצְחָק – the Binding of Isaac (ah-keh-DAHT yeets-KHAHK), where Abraham substitutes the offering of his son with a ram that has been caught in the thicket – נֶאֱחַז בַּסְּבַך (neh-eh-KHAHZ bah-seh-VAHKH) – where סבך means thicket or entanglement.
להסתבך is a reflexive-intensive התפעל verb. Other similar words are the active-intensive לְסַבֵּך – to complicate (leh-sah-BEHKH) and its passive form, מְסֻבַּך – complicated (meh-soo-BAHKH).
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