אָטַם ʼâṭam — to close (the lips or ears)
Translated in the KJV as narrow, shut, stop.
a primitive root; to close (the lips or ears); by analology to contract (a window by bevelled jambs).
ʼâṭam in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (passive) 4Participle (active) 3Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
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 ›