רָפָה râphâh — to slacken (in many applications, literal or figurative)
Translated in the KJV as abate, cease, consume, draw, fail, faint, be feeble, forsake, idle, leave, let alone (go, down).
a primitive root; to slacken (in many applications, literal or figurative).
râphâh in each stem
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 9Imperative 9Jussive 3
(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Qal (Pa'al)
Perfect (qatal) 5Imperfect (yiqtol) 4Wayyiqtol 2Jussive 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.
God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that.
And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel’s father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.
Pi'el
Participle (active) 2Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Perfect (qatal) 1
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
Niph'al
Participle (active) 3
And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.
Hitpa'el
Participle (active) 2Perfect (qatal) 1
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?
He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
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 ›