צָרַף tsâraph — to fuse (metal), i.e. refine (literally or figuratively)
Translated in the KJV as cast, fine, founder, goldsmith, melt, pure, purge away, try.
a primitive root; to fuse (metal), i.e. refine (literally or figuratively).
tsâraph in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Participle (active) 12Participle (passive) 5Perfect (qatal) 5Infinitive construct 3Imperfect (yiqtol) 2Imperative 2Infinitive absolute 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.
Pi'el
Participle (active) 2
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Niph'al
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
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 ›