נָמַל nâmal — to become clipped or (specifically) circumcised
Translated in the KJV as be cut down, circumcise.
a primitive root; to become clipped or (specifically) circumcised.
nâmal in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Wayyiqtol 1
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
Niph'al
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
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 ›