עָרַף ʻâraph — properly, to bend downward
Translated in the KJV as that is beheaded, break down, break (cut off, strike off) neck.
a primitive root (identical with through the idea of slopping); properly, to bend downward; but used only as a denominative from H6203,; to break the neck; hence (figuratively) to destroy.
ʻâraph in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 3Participle (passive) 1Participle (active) 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:
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 ›