לָפַת lâphath — properly, to bend, i.e. (by implication) to clasp
Translated in the KJV as take hold, turn aside.
a primitive root; properly, to bend, i.e. (by implication) to clasp; also (reflexively) to turn around or aside.
lâphath in each stem
Niph'al
Wayyiqtol 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.
Qal (Pa'al)
Wayyiqtol 1
And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
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 ›