נָפַל nâphal — to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)
Translated in the KJV as be accepted, cast (down, self, out), cease, die, divide, fail, (cause to, let, make, ready to) fall (away.
a primitive root; to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative).
nâphal in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Wayyiqtol 94Imperfect (yiqtol) 94Perfect (qatal) 77Participle (active) 40Sequential perfect (weqatal) 35Infinitive construct 15Jussive 5Cohortative 5Imperative 2Infinitive absolute 1
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 15Perfect (qatal) 14Wayyiqtol 9Infinitive construct 8Sequential perfect (weqatal) 7Participle (active) 4Imperative 2Jussive 1Cohortative 1
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
Hitpa'el
Wayyiqtol 2Infinitive construct 1Perfect (qatal) 1Participle (active) 1
And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.
And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you.
Pilpel
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
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 ›