גָּזַז gazâz — to cut off
Translated in the KJV as cut off, poll, shave, shear.
a primitive root (akin to H1468); to cut off; specifically to shear a flock or shave the hair; figuratively to destroy an enemy.
gazâz in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 7Infinitive construct 3Imperative 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Wayyiqtol 1
And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.
And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
Niph'al
Perfect (qatal) 1
Thus saith the Lord; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
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 ›