תָּכַן tâkan — to balance, i.e. measure out (by weight or dimension)
Translated in the KJV as bear up, direct, beequal, mete, ponder, tell, weigh.
a primitive root; to balance, i.e. measure out (by weight or dimension); figuratively to arrange, equalize, through the idea of levelling (ment, estimate, test).
tâkan in each stem
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 9Perfect (qatal) 1
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
Pi'el
Perfect (qatal) 4
To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 3
All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Pu'al
Participle (passive) 1
And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.
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 ›