אָלַם ʼâlam — to tie fast
Translated in the KJV as bind, be dumb, put to silence.
a primitive root; to tie fast; hence (of the mouth) to be tongue-tied.
ʼâlam in each stem
Niph'al
Perfect (qatal) 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
Pi'el
Participle (active) 1
For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
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 ›