H3728 H3728
to press down, make bow down
This Hiphil verb means to make someone bow down or cower, appearing in Lamentations 3:16 where the poet complains that God has made him cower in the ashes. The verb suggests physical pressing down, forcing into a bowed or prostrate position. The root may relate to having bent or crooked limbs, emphasizing the forced, humiliating posture. The context is Lamentations' extended meditation on suffering under divine judgment, where the poet describes God as an active agent in his humiliation—not merely allowing suffering but pressing him down into dust and ashes.
Senses
1. sense 1 — A Hiphil verb meaning to press down or make someone cower, used of God's afflicting action in Lamentations. The Spanish 'me ha cubierto' (has covered me) takes a different root, while the context clearly indicates forced prostration. The image of being pressed into ashes evokes Job and other mourning contexts where sitting in ashes expressed grief. Here the action is imposed rather than chosen—the sufferer is forced down into the posture of mourning and humiliation, expressing the overwhelming weight of divine judgment. 1×
AR["أَغْرَقَنِي"]·ben["চাপা-দিয়েছেন-আমাকে"]·DE["[הכפישני]"]·EN["He-pressed-me-down"]·FR["[הכפישני]"]·heb["הכפישני"]·HI["मुझे-धूल-से-ढक-दिया"]·ID["Ia-menekan-aku"]·IT["[הכפישני]"]·jav["Panjenengan-ndhupak-kawula"]·KO["그-가-엎드렸네-나-를"]·PT["fez-me-curvar"]·RU["втоптал-меня"]·ES["me-ha-cubierto"]·SW["amenifunika"]·TR["gömdü-beni"]·urd["دبایا-مجھے"]
Related Senses
H0935 1. come, arrive (Qal) (2413×)G1473 1. first person singular pronoun (2084×)H3318 1. Qal: go out, depart, come forth (891×)H7725 1. to return, come/go back (Qal) (874×)H5927 1. go up, ascend (Qal) (779×)H7971 1. to send, dispatch (Qal) (701×)G2064 1. come / arrive (physical movement toward) (588×)H5307 1. Qal: fall down physically (339×)H5375 1. Qal: to lift up, raise (330×)H5975 1. to stand, stand up (310×)H5674a 1. Qal: pass by, pass through (256×)H3381 1. Qal: to go down, descend (physical movement) (242×)G1831 1. go/come out physically (193×)H5337 1. deliver, rescue, save (Hifil) (188×)H7901 1. lie down, rest, sleep (183×)G1525 1. enter a place physically (179×)H7812 1. prostrate oneself, bow down, worship (173×)H3318 2. Hifil: bring out, lead out, take out (persons) (172×)H7725 2. to bring back, restore (Hifil) (151×)H5674a 2. Qal: cross over (134×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [כָּפַשׁ] vb. only Hiph. make bent, press or bend together (NH Hiph. id.i כָּפַשׁ furnish a vessel with a bent rim, כּוֹפֶשׁ a broad-rimmed vessel; Arabic كَفِسَ have bent or crooked feet; Tel Am. kapâšu, sole of foot DlHWB 348 (doubtfully), but inf. from כבשׁ according to WklTelAm.Letters, Vocab.);— Hiph. Pf. 3 ms. sf. הִכְפִּישַׁנִי בָּאֵפֶר La 3:16 he made me cower in the ashes.