Midvash

תָּפַשׂtâphas

lay hold of, wield

Pronunciation: taw-fas' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H8610

Meanings

Qal

1. lay hold of, seize, (with the hand) (Genesis 39:12; Isaiah 3:6; Deuteronomy 21:19)

2. in order to wield, wield, use skilfully: grasp sword בַּכָּף Ezek 21:16 (accusative omitted), compare Ezek 30:21 (ב of sword), and especially participle: תִּפֵשׂ הַקֶּשֶׁת Amos 2:15, תֹּפֵשׂ כִנּוֺר Gen 4:21 (J), מַגָּל ׳ ת Jer 50:16, תֹּפְשֵׂי מָגֵן Jer 46:9a (strike out ׳ ת Jer 46:9b ᵐ5 Gie Co Du), מָשׁוֺט ׳ ת Ezek 27:29, חֲרָבוֺת Ezek 38:4 even הַתּוֺרָה ׳ ת Jer 2:8 they that handle (deal with, are expert in) the law, הַמִּלְחָמָה ׳ ת Num 31:27 (P) those skilled in war. — Jer 34:8 see below (Ezekiel 21:16; Ezekiel 30:21; Amos 2:15)

Niph`al: be seized, arrested, caught (Ezekiel 19:4; Jeremiah 50:24; Jeremiah 51:41)

Pi`el: grasp, with the hands, or read תִּתָּפֵשׂ Niph`al Imperfect 3 feminine singular (Proverbs 30:28)

Where it appears

Appears 65 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 4:21 His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of all who play the harp and flute.
  • Genesis 39:12 She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
  • Numbers 5:13 and has sex with another man, but neither her husband nor anyone else knows about it. She has defiled herself, even though there was no witness and she was not caught in the act.
  • Numbers 31:27 Then divide the plunder into two parts, and give half to the men who fought the battle and half to the rest of the people.
  • Deuteronomy 9:17 So I took the stone tablets and threw them to the ground, smashing them before your eyes.
  • Deuteronomy 20:19 “When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).