שׁוּף shûwph — properly, to gape, i.e. snap at
Translated in the KJV as break, bruise, cover.
a primitive root; properly, to gape, i.e. snap at; figuratively, to overwhelm.
shûwph in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Imperfect (yiqtol) 4
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
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 ›