לָחַץ lâchats — properly, to press, i.e. (figuratively) to distress
Translated in the KJV as afflict, crush, force, hold fast, oppress, thrust self.
a primitive root; properly, to press, i.e. (figuratively) to distress.
lâchats in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 6Perfect (qatal) 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Wayyiqtol 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Niph'al
Wayyiqtol 1
And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he smote her again.
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 ›