The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the BibleTHE HEBREW LANGUAGE
Each root represents an action, an object that reflects the action and an abstract derived
from the action of the object. The action is referred to as a verb while the object and
abstract are referred to as nouns. The root OVF (BRK) is the foundation to the verb
OVF (barak) meaning "to kneel" (action) and the noun OVF (berek) meaning "knee"
(object). The noun IOVF (berakah) is derived from the root and can be a gift (object)
or the abstract concept of a "blessing" in the sense of bringing a gift on bended knee.
VERBS........................................................................................................................
Hebrew verbs, like English verbs, describe action. Because the Hebrew language is an
action oriented language rather than descriptive, it is prolific with verbs. When a
Hebrew verb is conjugated in a sentence it identifies person, number, gender, tense,
mood and voice. Understanding these different aspects of a verb is essential for proper
interpretation of that verb.
Person
Each verb identifies the subject of the verb as first (I), second (you) or third (he) person.
Number
Each verb also indicates the subject of the verb as singular or plural (we, you or they).
Gender...................................................................................................................
Each verb also indicates the subject of the verb as masculine (he) or feminine (she).
Tense
There are four tenses in Hebrew verbs, perfect, imperfect, participle and imperative. In
the English language the verb tenses are related to time; past, present and future, while
the Hebrew verbs are all related to action. The perfect tense is a completed action and
in most cases is related to the English past tense (he cut). The imperfect tense is an
incomplete action and is closely related to the English present and future tenses (he cuts
or he will cut). The participle can be a current action or one who performs the action (a
cutting or cutter). The imperative identifies the action, similar to a command, with no
reference to the subject (cut!). When the prefix J (waw) meaning "and" is attached to