קָנַן qânan — to erect
Translated in the KJV as make...nest.
a primitive root; to erect; but used only as denominative from H7064; to nestle, i.e. build or occupy as a nest.
qânan in each stem
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Perfect (qatal) 2
Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.
Pu'al
Participle (passive) 2
O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
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 ›