לָחַם lâcham — to feed on
Translated in the KJV as devour, eat, × ever, fight, overcome, prevail, war.
a primitive root; to feed on; figuratively, to consume; by implication, to battle (as destruction).
lâcham in each stem
Niph'al
Infinitive construct 47Wayyiqtol 36Perfect (qatal) 25Participle (active) 21Sequential perfect (weqatal) 16Imperfect (yiqtol) 11Imperative 5Cohortative 4Infinitive absolute 1Jussive 1
Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 3Imperative 2Participle (passive) 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Perfect (qatal) 1Infinitive construct 1Jussive 1
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
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 ›