רָצַח râtsach — properly, to dash in pieces, i.e. kill (a human being), especially to murder
Translated in the KJV as put to death, kill, slay, murder.
a primitive root; properly, to dash in pieces, i.e. kill (a human being), especially to murder.
râtsach in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 31Imperfect (yiqtol) 4Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Infinitive absolute 2Perfect (qatal) 1
And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall add forty and two cities.
Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares.
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Participle (active) 2
But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?
They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Niph'al
Participle (active) 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
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 ›