צָפָה tsâphâh — properly, to lean forward, i.e. to peer into the distance
Translated in the KJV as behold, espy, look up, wait for, watch.
a primitive root; properly, to lean forward, i.e. to peer into the distance; by implication, to observe, await.
tsâphâh in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 24Participle (passive) 2Jussive 1Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
And Mizpah; for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.
But Absalom fled. And the young man that kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came much people by the way of the hill side behind him.
Pi'el
Participle (active) 3Imperfect (yiqtol) 3Imperative 2Perfect (qatal) 1
And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.
For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
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 ›