עָוַת ʻâvath — to wrest

pronounced aw-vath' · Strong's H5791 · 11 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 3 stems: Pi'el, Pu'al, Hitpa'el

Translated in the KJV as bow self, crooked, falsifying, overthrow, deal perversely, pervert, subvert, turn upside down.

a primitive root; to wrest.

ʻâvath in each stem

Pi'el 9×

Intensive · active — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it

Imperfect (yiqtol) 4Perfect (qatal) 3Infinitive construct 2

יְעַוֵּ֣ת Job 8:3 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? (KJV)

עִוְּתָ֑נִי Job 19:6 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. (KJV)

יְעַוֵּ֥ת Job 34:12 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. (KJV)

Pu'al 1×

Intensive · passive — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject has it done to them

Participle (passive) 1

מְעֻוָּ֖ת Eccl 1:15 Participle (passive), masculine singular

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. (KJV)

Hitpa'el 1×

Intensive · reflexive — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it to or for themselves

Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1

וְהִֽתְעַוְּת֖וּ Eccl 12:3 Sequential perfect (weqatal), 3rd person common plural

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, (KJV)

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 ›

Open in Hebrew Explorer with Verb Anatomy on →

In the app, tap any Hebrew verb while reading: its root, stem and form are named, the letters of the word itself are coloured to show which is which, and the stem's meaning is put in plain English. ʻâvath in the lexicon ›

Morphology from OpenScriptures MorphHB (CC BY 4.0); definitions from Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (public domain); text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

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