חָקַק châqaq — properly, to hack, i.e. engrave (Judges 5:14, to be a scribe simply)
Translated in the KJV as appoint, decree, governor, grave, lawgiver, note, pourtray, print, set.
a primitive root; properly, to hack, i.e. engrave (Judges 5:14, to be a scribe simply); by implication, to enact (laws being cut in stone or metal tablets in primitive times) or (gen.) prescribe.
châqaq in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 3Infinitive construct 2Imperative 1Perfect (qatal) 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Participle (passive) 1
My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord.
When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Po'el
Participle (active) 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:
And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments with Israel.
Pi'el
Participle (active) 2
Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
Hoph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
Pu'al
Participle (passive) 1
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
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 ›