עָבַשׁ ʻâbash — to dry up
Translated in the KJV as be rotten.
a primitive root; to dry up.
ʻâbash in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it
Perfect (qatal) 1
עָבְשׁ֣וּ Joel 1:17 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›