סָחַף çâchaph — to scrape off
Translated in the KJV as sweep.
a primitive root; to scrape off.
çâchaph in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it
Participle (active) 1
סֹ֝חֵ֗ף Prov 28:3 Participle (active), masculine singular
A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
Niph'al
Simple · passive — the plain action; the subject has it done to them
Perfect (qatal) 1
נִסְחַ֣ף Jer 46:15 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular
Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the Lord did drive them.
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 ›