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בָּקַע bâqaʻ — to cleave

pronounced baw-kah' · Strong's H1234 · 51 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 7 stems: Qal (Pa'al), Niph'al, Pi'el, Pu'al, Hitpa'el, Hiph'il, Hoph'al

Translated in the KJV as make a breach, break forth (into, out, in pieces, through, up), be ready to burst, cleave, cut out, divide, hatch, rend.

a primitive root; to cleave; generally, to rend, break, rip or open.

bâqaʻ in each stem

Qal (Pa'al) 17×

Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it

Wayyiqtol 5Perfect (qatal) 3Participle (active) 3Infinitive construct 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Imperative 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1

וּבְקָעֵ֑הוּ Exod 14:16 Imperative, 2nd person masculine singular

But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. (KJV)

וַיִּבְקַ֨ע Judg 15:19 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine singular

But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En–hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. (KJV)

וַיִּבְקְעוּ֩ 2Sam 23:16 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine plural

And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth–lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. (KJV)

Niph'al 14×

Simple · passive — the plain action; the subject has it done to them

Perfect (qatal) 5Wayyiqtol 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Infinitive construct 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1

נִבְקְעוּ֙ Gen 7:11 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. (KJV)

וַיִּבָּקְע֖וּ Exod 14:21 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine plural

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. (KJV)

וַתִּבָּקַ֥ע Num 16:31 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person feminine singular

And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: (KJV)

Pi'el 12×

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

Imperfect (yiqtol) 5Wayyiqtol 3Perfect (qatal) 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1

וַיְבַקַּע֙ Gen 22:3 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine singular

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. (KJV)

וַֽיְבַקְּעוּ֙ 1Sam 6:14 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine plural

And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth–shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord. (KJV)

וַתְּבַקַּ֣עְנָה 2Kgs 2:24 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person feminine plural

And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. (KJV)

Pu'al

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

Participle (passive) 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 1

וּמְבֻקָּעִ֖ים Josh 9:4 Participle (passive), masculine plural

They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; (KJV)

מְבֻקָּעָֽה Ezek 26:10 Participle (passive), feminine singular

By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. (KJV)

יְבֻקָּֽעוּ Hos 14:1 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine plural

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. (KJV)

Hitpa'el

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

Perfect (qatal) 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1

הִתְבַּקָּ֑עוּ Josh 9:13 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural

And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. (KJV)

יִתְבַּקָּ֑עוּ Mic 1:4 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine plural

And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. (KJV)

Hiph'il

Causative · active — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject does it

Infinitive construct 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1

לְהַבְקִ֛יעַ 2Kgs 3:26 Infinitive construct

And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. (KJV)

וְנַבְקִעֶ֖נָּה Isa 7:6 Imperfect (yiqtol), 1st person common plural

Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: (KJV)

Hoph'al

Causative · passive — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject has it done to them

Perfect (qatal) 1

הָבְקְעָ֖ה Jer 39:2 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person feminine singular

And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. (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 ›

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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. bâqaʻ 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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