רָכַךְ râkak — to soften (intransitively or transitively), used figuratively
Translated in the KJV as faint, mollify, (be, make) soft, be tender.
a primitive root; to soften (intransitively or transitively), used figuratively.
râkak in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Perfect (qatal) 3Jussive 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.
Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.
Hiph'il
Perfect (qatal) 1
For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
Pu'al
Perfect (qatal) 1
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
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 ›