סָפָה çâphâh — properly, to scrape (literally, to shave
Translated in the KJV as add, augment, consume, destroy, heap, join, perish, put.
a primitive root; properly, to scrape (literally, to shave; but usually figuratively) together (i.e. to accumulate or increase) or away (i.e. to scatter, remove, or ruin; intransitively, to perish).
çâphâh in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Infinitive construct 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Imperative 2Perfect (qatal) 1
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel.
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 5Participle (active) 3Perfect (qatal) 1
And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon 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 ›