יָכַח yâkach — to be right (i.e. correct)
Translated in the KJV as appoint, argue, chasten, convince, correct, daysman, dispute, judge, maintain, plead, reason, rebuke.
a primitive root; to be right (i.e. correct); reciprocal, to argue; causatively, to decide, justify or convict.
yâkach in each stem
Hiph'il
Imperfect (yiqtol) 19Participle (active) 10Infinitive absolute 6Sequential perfect (weqatal) 6Perfect (qatal) 3Jussive 3Wayyiqtol 3Infinitive construct 3Imperative 1
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.
And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master’s son.
Niph'al
Participle (active) 2Cohortative 1
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Hoph'al
Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:
Hitpa'el
Imperfect (yiqtol) 1
Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
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 ›