חָדַד châdad — to be (causatively, make) sharp or (figuratively) severe
Translated in the KJV as be fierce, sharpen.
a primitive root; to be (causatively, make) sharp or (figuratively) severe.
châdad in each stem
Hoph'al
Perfect (qatal) 3
Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 2
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Qal (Pa'al)
Perfect (qatal) 1
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
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 ›