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קָרָא qârâʼ — to encounter, whether accidentally or in a hostile manner

pronounced kaw-raw' · Strong's H7122 · 37 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 3 stems: Qal (Pa'al), Niph'al, Hiph'il

Translated in the KJV as befall, chance, come, fall out, happen, meet.

a primitive root; to encounter, whether accidentally or in a hostile manner.

qârâʼ in each stem

Qal (Pa'al) 31×

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

Infinitive construct 21Perfect (qatal) 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Wayyiqtol 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Participle (active) 1

יִקְרָאֶ֖נּוּ Gen 42:4 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. (KJV)

וּקְרָאָ֤הוּ Gen 42:38 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. (KJV)

יִקְרָ֥א Gen 49:1 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. (KJV)

Niph'al

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

Perfect (qatal) 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Infinitive absolute 1Wayyiqtol 1

נִקְרָ֣א Exod 5:3 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. (KJV)

יִקָּרֵ֣א Deut 22:6 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: (KJV)

נִקְרֹ֤א 2Sam 1:6 Infinitive absolute

And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. (KJV)

Hiph'il

Causative · active — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject does it

Wayyiqtol 1

וַתַּקְרֵ֣א Jer 32:23 Wayyiqtol, 2nd person masculine singular

And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them: (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. qârâʼ 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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