זָנַב zânab — to curtail, i.e. cut off the rear
Translated in the KJV as smite the hindmost.
a primitive root meaning to wag; used only as a denominative from H2180; to curtail, i.e. cut off the rear.
zânab in each stem
Pi'el
Wayyiqtol 1Sequential perfect (weqatal) 1
How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand.
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 ›