נָכָא nâkâʼ — to smite, i.e. drive away
Translated in the KJV as be viler.
a primitive root; to smite, i.e. drive away.
nâkâʼ in each stem
Niph'al
Simple · passive — the plain action; the subject has it done to them
Perfect (qatal) 1
נִ֝כְּא֗וּ Job 30:8 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural
They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
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 ›