כָּרַת kârath — to cut (off, down or asunder)
Translated in the KJV as be chewed, be con- ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew, make a league, × lose.
a primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication, to destroy or consume; specifically, to covenant (i.e. make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces).
kârath in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Perfect (qatal) 38Wayyiqtol 35Imperfect (yiqtol) 21Infinitive construct 9Participle (active) 7Sequential perfect (weqatal) 7Cohortative 6Imperative 6Participle (passive) 3Jussive 2Infinitive absolute 2
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
Thus they made a covenant at Beer–sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
Hiph'il
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 30Infinitive construct 19Imperfect (yiqtol) 11Perfect (qatal) 9Wayyiqtol 4Jussive 3Cohortative 1
And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.
And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 34Sequential perfect (weqatal) 24Perfect (qatal) 12Infinitive absolute 1Jussive 1Infinitive construct 1
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.
Pu'al
Perfect (qatal) 2
And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
Hoph'al
Perfect (qatal) 1
The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.
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 ›