שָׁאַל shâʼal — to inquire
Translated in the KJV as ask (counsel, on), beg, borrow, lay to charge, consult, demand, desire, × earnestly, enquire, greet, obtain leave.
or שָׁאֵל; a primitive root; to inquire; by implication, to request; by extension, to demand.
shâʼal in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Perfect (qatal) 40Wayyiqtol 39Imperative 23Imperfect (yiqtol) 20Infinitive construct 16Participle (active) 10Sequential perfect (weqatal) 9Infinitive absolute 3Cohortative 2Participle (passive) 2Jussive 1
And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.
And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.
And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.
Niph'al
Perfect (qatal) 3Infinitive absolute 2
If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth–lehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth–lehem:
But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:
Hiph'il
Wayyiqtol 1Perfect (qatal) 1
And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.
Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.
Pi'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
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 ›