Hiphil and Hophal

The God who brought you out

The Ten Commandments begin with God introducing himself.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Exodus 20:2

הוֹצֵאתִיךָ, "hotzetikha", means "I brought you out". The root is יָצָא, "come out". In the Qal it would say "I came out", but this word is a Hiphil, so it says "I caused you to come out", that is, "I brought you out". That is the basic idea of the Hiphil: it is the causative stem, "cause to…". A verb that means "come out" in the Qal tends to mean "bring out" in the Hiphil. That is a tendency, and not every verb moves over this neatly.

How to recognise the Hiphil

The Hiphil changes its look from form to form, but you need only a few clues. In the perfect it starts with הִ- (or הֵ-, הוֹ-). In the imperfect and consecutive imperfect there is an a-vowel after the prefix, and very often a -ִי- (hireq-yod) before the last root letter. Verbs whose first root letter is י, such as יָצָא and יָשַׁע, show וֹ instead of the a-vowel (הוֹצֵאתִיךָ, וַיּוֹשַׁע).

Notice that וַיַּבְדֵּל, "vayavdel", has no -ִי-. The consecutive imperfect often uses a shortened form that loses the yod. So the rule runs one way: if you see -ִי- with the a-vowel it is probably Hiphil, but its absence does not prove it is not. In Genesis 1:4 the verb means "and he separated" the light from the darkness, or "made them be apart", and the causative sense fits well.

In Psalm 23:2, יַרְבִּיצֵנִי, "yarbitzeni", means "he makes me lie down". You can see the a-vowel after the prefix יַ and the hireq-yod; the ending ־נִי is the suffix "me". The sheep does not lie down alone: the shepherd makes it lie down. That is the Hiphil. In Genesis 12:1, אַרְאֶךָּ, "ar'ekka", is "I will show you": the Qal "see" becomes "cause to see", that is, "show".

One root, two dictionary entries

Because the meaning shifts, the lexicon often lists a Hiphil sense separately. Several words in this lesson are like that. In the Hiphil, יָצָא means "bring out" or "send out" and is listed apart from the Qal "come out"; it appears about 262 times. בּוֹא, "come in", has a separate entry for "bring", about 555 times. In Genesis 2:19, וַיָּבֵא, "vayave", is God "bringing" the animals to the man.

Here are more Hiphils to learn by sight. מַכֵּה is a Hiphil participle of נָכָה, "strike" (Hiphil participles begin with מַ-); Exodus 21:12 begins "whoever strikes a man…". This verb occurs about 499 times, never in the Qal and almost always in the Hiphil. הִגִּיד, "higgid", means "he told", from נָגַד, about 369 times and found only in the Hiphil and Hophal: "Who told you that you were naked?" וַיּוֹשַׁע, "vayyoshah", is "and he saved", from יָשַׁע, about 205 times. וְהַצִּילֵנִי, "vehatzileni", is "and deliver me", a Hiphil imperative of נָצַל, about 212 times. Match each form to its meaning as you meet it.

Hophal: the passive of the Hiphil

The Hophal is the passive of the Hiphil, and it is rare. Its sign is a u-vowel (sometimes an o) with the prefix. In Exodus 21:12, יוּמָת, "yumat", means "he shall be put to death". The Qal "die" becomes the Hiphil "cause to die, kill", and its passive is "be put to death". In Genesis 22:20, וַיֻּגַּד, "vayugad", means "and it was told" to Abraham, the passive of the "tell" we just met. Its doubled ג is the trace of the root's lost נ (as in הִגִּיד), not the doubling of the Pual. When you see a Hophal, translate it as "Hiphil + passive".

Summary

The Hiphil means "cause to…". Look for הִ- in the perfect, and an a-vowel after the prefix, often with -ִי-, in the imperfect; the yod may drop in the consecutive imperfect. The Hophal is the passive and is marked by a u-vowel. Moving from Qal to Hiphil can change the dictionary meaning, so read the panel's stem label together with the sense it gives.

Words in this lesson

• יָצָאyatsato come out: send262 times in the OT
• בּוֹאboto come (in): bring555 times in the OT
• נָכָהnakhahto smite499 times in the OT
• נָגַדnagadto tell369 times in the OT
• יָשַׁעyasahto save205 times in the OT
• נָצַלnatsalto rescue212 times in the OT

Practice