נָבַב nâbab — to pierce
Translated in the KJV as hollow, vain.
a primitive root; to pierce; to be hollow, or (figuratively) foolish.
nâbab in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (passive) 4
Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.
And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards.
For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
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 ›