נָגַשׂ nâgas — to drive (an animal, a workman, a debtor, an army)
Translated in the KJV as distress, driver, exact, oppress, × raiser of taxes, taskmaster.
a primitive root; to drive (an animal, a workman, a debtor, an army); by implication, to tax, harass, tyrannize.
nâgas in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 15Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Perfect (qatal) 1
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.
Niph'al
Perfect (qatal) 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.
And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.
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 ›