אָמַן ʼâman — (Isaiah 30:21
Translated in the KJV as hence, assurance, believe, bring up, establish, fail, be faithful (of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified).
a primitive root; (Isaiah 30:21; interchangeable with H541, to go to the right hand); properly, to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; figuratively to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be true or certain.
ʼâman in each stem
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 19Perfect (qatal) 17Wayyiqtol 5Jussive 5Participle (active) 2Imperative 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.
And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.
Niph'al
Participle (active) 31Imperfect (yiqtol) 7Perfect (qatal) 4Jussive 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Participle (passive) 1
But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 7Participle (passive) 1
Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?
And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.
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 ›