נָכַר nâkar — properly, to scrutinize, i.e. look intently at
Translated in the KJV as acknowledge, × could, deliver, discern, dissemble, estrange, feign self to be another, know, take knowledge, perceive, regard, respect.
a primitive root; properly, to scrutinize, i.e. look intently at; hence (with recognition implied), to acknowledge, be acquainted with, care for, respect, revere, or (with suspicion implied), to disregard, ignore, be strange toward, reject, resign, dissimulate (as if ignorant or disowning).
nâkar in each stem
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 14Wayyiqtol 8Perfect (qatal) 7Participle (active) 4Imperative 3Infinitive absolute 2Infinitive construct 1
And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.
With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no.
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Perfect (qatal) 2Wayyiqtol 1
Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.
And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.
Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
Hitpa'el
Participle (active) 2Wayyiqtol 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.
And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Perfect (qatal) 1
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
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 ›