A stumbling or fall β adversity, calamity, or the act of limping. Related to the word for 'rib' or 'side' in a separate usage.
The Hebrew tsela in this entry (H6761) refers specifically to stumbling or adversity β a different usage from H6763 (tsela, rib/side). It appears in Psalm 35:15 ('when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; assailants gathered against me') and Jeremiah 20:10 ('I hear many whispering, 'Terror on every side! Denounce him!'). The sense is of vulnerable faltering β the moment when enemies see weakness and attack. The word captures the existential vulnerability of the righteous sufferer.
The tsela (stumbling/adversity) in Psalm 35 is a lament pattern: the righteous person mourns, prays for enemies, and then discovers that enemies rejoice at the very stumbling they have helped cause. This is the theology of suffering under opposition β addressed supremely in the Servant Songs of Isaiah and in Jesus' own experience. Yet the Psalms consistently move from tsela (stumbling) to simchah (joy) and tehillah (praise). Psalm 37:24 promises: 'Though he may stumble (naphal), he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.'