שָׁאַף shâʼaph — to inhale eagerly
Translated in the KJV as desire, devour, haste, pant, snuff up, swallow up.
a primitive root; to inhale eagerly; figuratively, to cover; by implication, to be angry; also to hasten.
shâʼaph in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Perfect (qatal) 4Participle (active) 4Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1Jussive 1Wayyiqtol 1Infinitive absolute 1
Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.
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 ›