עָמַל ʻâmal — to toil, i.e. work severely and with irksomeness
Translated in the KJV as labour.
a primitive root; to toil, i.e. work severely and with irksomeness.
ʻâmal in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it
Perfect (qatal) 7Imperfect (yiqtol) 4
עָמְל֣וּ Ps 127:1 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural
Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
עָ֣מְלָה Prov 16:26 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person feminine singular
He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.
שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖ל Eccl 1:3 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
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 ›