חָצָה châtsâh — to cut or split in two
Translated in the KJV as divide, × live out half, reach to the midst, participle.
a primitive root (compare H2086)); to cut or split in two; to halve.
châtsâh in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Wayyiqtol 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 4Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Perfect (qatal) 1
And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.
Niph'al
Wayyiqtol 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Jussive 1
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
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 ›