---
title: לָפַת — twist · The Tanakh dictionary
description: לָפַת (3943), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 3 times: twist. BDB 1906: vb. twist, turn, grasp with twisting motion. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# לָפַת

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«לָפַת» in the Tanakh dictionary: **twist** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

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**Used:** 3 times · **Key:** 3943 · **BDB:** לָפַת

### Glosses

he.twisted (2); they.twist (1)

### Meaning (OSHB)

twist [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3943/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

vb. twist, turn, grasp with twisting motion [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3943/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** vb. twist, turn, grasp with a twisting motion (Arabic لَفَتَ twist, wring; Assyrian lapâtu, overthrow, DlHWB 382);— Impf. וַיִּלְפֹּת Ju 16:29 sq. acc., Samson grasped the two middle columns. Impf. 3 ms. וַיִּלָּפֵת Ru 3:8 the man started up and twisted himself; 3 mpl. יִלָּֽפְתוּ Jb 6:18 the paths of their way \[i.e. of the streams\] turn aside (twist, wind, with lessening force), so AV Hi De Da Bu \> Ew Ol Di Siegf Du, who read Qal יִלְפְּתוּ or Pi. יְלַפְּתוּ, making ארחות, = caravans, subj.

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Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 3 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (2 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (2 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «לָפַת» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3943/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Job 6:18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.6.18/)

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יִ֭לָּ֣פְתוּ אָרְח֣וֹת דַּרְכָּ֑ם יַעֲל֖וּ בַתֹּ֣הוּ וְיֹאבֵֽדוּ׃

*Word for word:* they.twist the.paths their.way their they.go.up in the wasteland and they.perish

*JPS 1917:* The paths of their way do wind, they go up into the waste, and are lost.

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[Ruth 3:8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/RUT.3.8/)

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וַיְהִי֙ בַּחֲצִ֣י הַלַּ֔יְלָה וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד הָאִ֖ישׁ וַיִּלָּפֵ֑ת וְהִנֵּ֣ה אִשָּׁ֔ה שֹׁכֶ֖בֶת מַרְגְּלֹתָֽיו׃

*Word for word:* and it.was in the.middle of the.night and he.trembled the man and he.twisted and there! a.woman \[was\].lying.down feet his

*JPS 1917:* And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was startled, and turned himself; and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.

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