נָגַע nâgaʻ — properly, to touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose
Translated in the KJV as beat, bring, cast, come, draw near, get up, happen, join, near, plague, reach, smite.
a primitive root; properly, to touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive, acquire); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.).
nâgaʻ in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 35Imperfect (yiqtol) 26Perfect (qatal) 15Wayyiqtol 12Infinitive construct 8Jussive 5Imperative 3Participle (passive) 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
Hiph'il
Participle (active) 10Perfect (qatal) 10Imperfect (yiqtol) 8Wayyiqtol 4Sequential perfect (weqatal) 3Infinitive construct 3
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
Pi'el
Wayyiqtol 2Perfect (qatal) 1
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land.
And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.
Niph'al
Wayyiqtol 1
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
Pu'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
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 ›