מָתַח mâthach — to stretch out
Translated in the KJV as spread out.
a primitive root; to stretch out.
mâthach in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it
Wayyiqtol 1
וַיִּמְתָּחֵ֥ם Isa 40:22 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine singular
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
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 ›