שָׂבַר sâbar — (Nehemiah 2:13,15), a primitive root
Translated in the KJV as hope, tarry, view, wait.
erroneously שָׁבַר; (Nehemiah 2:13,15), a primitive root; to scrutinize; by implication (of watching) to expect (with hope and patience).
sâbar in each stem
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 4Perfect (qatal) 2
Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.
Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)
These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 2
And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
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 ›