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נָתַץ nâthats — to tear down

pronounced naw-thats' · Strong's H5422 · 42 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 5 stems: Qal (Pa'al), Pi'el, Niph'al, Hoph'al, Pu'al

Translated in the KJV as beat down, break down, cast down, destroy, overthrow, pull down, throw down.

a primitive root; to tear down.

nâthats in each stem

Qal (Pa'al) 31×

Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it

Perfect (qatal) 10Imperfect (yiqtol) 8Wayyiqtol 7Infinitive construct 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Imperative 1Participle (passive) 1

תִּתֹּצ֔וּן Exod 34:13 Imperfect (yiqtol), 2nd person masculine plural

But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: (KJV)

וְנָתַ֣ץ Lev 14:45 Sequential perfect (weqatal), 3rd person masculine singular

And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. (KJV)

תִּתֹּ֔צוּ Deut 7:5 Imperfect (yiqtol), 2nd person masculine plural

But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. (KJV)

Pi'el

Intensive · active — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it

Wayyiqtol 4Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Perfect (qatal) 1

וְנִתַּצְתֶּ֣ם Deut 12:3 Sequential perfect (weqatal), 2nd person masculine plural

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. (KJV)

וַיְנַתְּצ֣וּ 2Chr 31:1 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine plural

Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. (KJV)

נִתַּ֖ץ 2Chr 33:3 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. (KJV)

Niph'al

Simple · passive — the plain action; the subject has it done to them

Perfect (qatal) 2

נִתְּצוּ֙ Jer 4:26 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural

I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger. (KJV)

נִתְּצ֥וּ Nah 1:6 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural

Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. (KJV)

Hoph'al

Causative · passive — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject has it done to them

Imperfect (yiqtol) 1

יֻתָּ֖ץ Lev 11:35 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you. (KJV)

Pu'al

Intensive · passive — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject has it done to them

Perfect (qatal) 1

נֻתַּץ֙ Judg 6:28 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. (KJV)

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 ›

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In the app, tap any Hebrew verb while reading: its root, stem and form are named, the letters of the word itself are coloured to show which is which, and the stem's meaning is put in plain English. nâthats in the lexicon ›

Morphology from OpenScriptures MorphHB (CC BY 4.0); definitions from Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (public domain); text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

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