מָלַט mâlaṭ — properly, to be smooth, i.e. (by implication) to escape (as if by slipperiness)
Translated in the KJV as deliver, escape, lay, leap out, let alone, let go, preserve, save, × speedily, × surely.
a primitive root; properly, to be smooth, i.e. (by implication) to escape (as if by slipperiness); causatively, to release or rescue; specifically, to bring forth young, emit sparks.
mâlaṭ in each stem
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 19Perfect (qatal) 14Wayyiqtol 13Imperative 4Infinitive construct 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 3Cohortative 2Jussive 2Participle (active) 2Participle (passive) 1
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 13Imperative 6Perfect (qatal) 3Participle (active) 2Wayyiqtol 2Infinitive construct 1Infinitive absolute 1
Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.
In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.
And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?
Hitpa'el
Wayyiqtol 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
Hiph'il
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2
As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
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 ›