צָפַד tsâphad — to adhere
Translated in the KJV as cleave.
a primitive root; to adhere.
tsâphad in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it
Perfect (qatal) 1
צָפַ֤ד Lam 4:8 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
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 ›