כָּנַע kânaʻ — properly, to bend the knee
Translated in the KJV as bring down, into subjection, under, humble, subdue.
a primitive root; properly, to bend the knee; hence, to humiliate, vanquish.
kânaʻ in each stem
Niph'al
Wayyiqtol 13Perfect (qatal) 7Infinitive construct 3Imperfect (yiqtol) 2
And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
Hiph'il
Wayyiqtol 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Perfect (qatal) 1Imperative 1
Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.
So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Metheg–ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
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 ›