H3898a H3898a
To fight, wage war, do battle; in Nifal the standard verb for armed conflict, in rare Qal a poetic fighter or combatant.
The primary Hebrew verb for military combat. Nearly all its 171 occurrences appear in the Nifal stem, the reflexive-reciprocal form natural for mutual engagement in battle — nations fight each other, armies clash, kings wage war. Spanish distinguishes luchar (struggle) from pelear (fight), and French uses combattre, all pointing to organized armed conflict rather than personal quarrels. A tiny cluster of Qal forms survives only in the Psalms, where the poet cries out for God to 'fight my fighters' (Ps 35:1) — an archaic, intensely personal idiom.
1. Nifal: to fight, wage war — The Nifal (reciprocal-reflexive) stem covering the overwhelming majority of occurrences: to fight, engage in battle, wage war against an enemy. The multilingual evidence — spa pelear/luchar, fra combattre, deu kämpfen — uniformly points to organized military conflict. Exod 17:8-10 narrates the paradigmatic scene: Amalek comes to fight Israel, and Joshua is sent out to fight them. Num 21:1, 23 shows the pattern repeated across the wilderness narratives. 167×
AR["أَنْ-يُحَارِبَ","أُحَارِبَ","لِ-أُحارِبَ","لِ-تُحارِبوا","لِ-تُحارِبَ","لِ-يُحارِبوا","لِ-يُحارِبَ","لِتُحَارِبَ","لِتُحَارِبَهَا","لِـ-تُحَارِبَ","لِـ-يُحَارِبُوا","لِيُحَارِبَ"]·ben["যুদ্ধ-করতে","যুদ্ধ-করে","লড়তে","লড়াই-করতে"]·DE["zu-kaempfe","zu-kaempfen"]·EN["to-fight"]·FR["à-combats","à-combattre"]·heb["ל-הילחם","ל-הלחם"]·HI["के-लिए-लड़ने","लड़ना","लड़ने","लड़ने-के-लिए","लड़ने-को","लड़नेकेलिए","लधने"]·ID["untuk-berperang"]·IT["a-combattere","a-combatti"]·jav["kangge-nglawan","kangge-perang","kanggé-perang","nempuh-perang"]·KO["싸우기-위하여","싸우기를","싸우기를-","싸우기위해","싸우는-것-에","싸우다-","싸우러","싸우려고","에게-싸우려고"]·PT["a-lutar","lutar","para-lutar"]·RU["воевать","воюя","сражаться","чтобы-воевать"]·ES["para-luchar","para-pelear","pelear"]·SW["kupigana"]·TR["-savaşmak-için","için-savaşmak","savaşmak","savaşmak-a","savaşmak-için","savaşmaya","ve-tartıştılar"]·urd["لڑ-کے","لڑنے","لڑنے-کو","لڑنے-کے-لیے"]
Exod 17:8, Exod 17:10, Num 21:1, Num 21:23, Num 22:11, Deut 20:4, Deut 20:10, Deut 20:19, Josh 9:2, Josh 10:29, Josh 10:31, Josh 10:38 (+38 more)
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. Qal: to fight; (ptc.) fighter, combatant — The rare Qal stem, preserved only in imperative and participial forms in the Psalms. In Ps 35:1, the psalmist pleads לְחַם אֶת־לֹחֲמָי — 'fight those fighting me' — where the Qal participle functions as a substantive meaning 'fighter, combatant.' Ps 56:1-2 similarly uses the Qal participle for an adversary pressing the attack. French renders one instance à-Ham, possibly capturing the proper-name context, while Spanish uses combatiendo. This poetic Qal preserves an older layer of the language. 4×
AR["حارِبْ","مُحارِبونَ","مُحارِبيَّ","مُحارِبٌ"]·ben["আমার-যুদ্ধকারীদের","যুদ্ধ-করে","যুদ্ধকারী","লড়াই-কর"]·DE["fighting","kämpfen","mein-fighters"]·EN["fight","fighting","my-fighters"]·FR["à-Ham","à-combattre"]·heb["לוחם","לוחמי-י","לוחמים","לחם"]·HI["लड़","लड़ता-हुआ","लड़नेवाले","लड़नेवालों-मेरे"]·IT["combatte'"]·jav["ingkang-merangi-kula","manungsa","mugi-perang"]·KO["싸우는-자-가","싸우는-자-들-이","싸우는-자들-과","싸우소서"]·PT["lutando","os-que-lutam","os-que-pelejam-comigo","peleja"]·RU["воюй","воюющие","воюющими-со-мной","воюя"]·ES["combatiendo","los-que-pelean-contra-mí","pelea"]·SW["akipigana","pigana","wanaonipiga","wanapigana"]·TR["savaş","savaşan","savaşanlar","savaşanlarla-bana"]·urd["لڑ","لڑنے-والا","لڑنے-والے","میرے-لڑنے-والوں"]
Related Senses
H4421 1. war, battle, armed conflict (319×)H0341 1. enemy, adversary, foe (284×)H2026 1. kill, slay (active) (146×)H2451 1. wisdom, discernment (146×)H5483b 1. horse (the animal) (138×)H0006 1. to perish, be destroyed (105×)H7843 1. Hifil: destroy, annihilate (83×)H2491a 1. slain, fatally pierced (74×)H6862c 1. adversary, enemy, foe (69×)H8045 1. destroy, exterminate (69×)G0615 1. kill, put to death (60×)H6571b 1. horseman, cavalryman (52×)H8077a 1. desolation, waste (abstract state) (52×)G4678 1. of wisdom (51×)G4717 1. crucify, fasten to a cross (46×)H2763a 1. utterly destroy (Hifil active) (44×)G0622 1. perish, be destroyed (intransitive) (41×)H0006 2. to destroy, annihilate (Piel) (38×)H8074 1. be desolate, lie waste (36×)G2190 1. enemy / hostile one (32×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
I. [לָחַם171] vb. fight, do battle (NH Hithp.; ואלתחם MI11.15.19; perhaps = order the battle, cf. NöZMG xl. 1886, 721; Arabic لَحَمَ fit close together, so NH לחם Pi., Syriac ܠܚܡ Pa. unite, ܠܳܚܶܡ fit; also threaten; GerberVerb. Denom. 59 thinks vb. in Heb. denom. from מִלְחָמָה battle-line, but dub.);— †Qal (poet.) only Imv. ms. and Pt. act.—fight, do battle with, rare, only ψψ, appar. later…