נָקָה nâqâh — to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively)
Translated in the KJV as acquit × at all, × altogether, be blameless, cleanse, clear, cut off, be desolate, be free, be guiltless, be innocent, × by no means, be quit.
a primitive root; to be (or make) clean (literally or figuratively); by implication (in an adverse sense) to be bare, i.e. extirpated.
nâqâh in each stem
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 12Perfect (qatal) 5Sequential perfect (weqatal) 5Imperative 1Infinitive absolute 1
And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 9Infinitive absolute 5Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Jussive 1Imperative 1Perfect (qatal) 1
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
Qal (Pa'al)
Infinitive absolute 1
For thus saith the Lord; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
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 ›