פָּתַח
to open
‘to open’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘free’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel.
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself).
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
8 verses where H6605 appears in the Qal stem in the Book of Isaiah. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Isaiah
- Isaiah 14:17 פָ֥תַח Qal pf 3ms who made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities of it; who didn't let loose his prisoners to their home?"
- Isaiah 22:22 וּ/פָתַח֙ פֹּתֵֽחַ conj + Qal pf 3ms Qal ptcp.act ms The key of the house of David will I lay on his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
- Isaiah 26:2 פִּתְח֖וּ Qal impv 2mp Open you the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in.
- Isaiah 41:18 אֶפְתַּ֤ח Qal impf 1cs I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
- Isaiah 45:1 אֲפַתֵּ֑חַ לִ/פְתֹּ֤חַ Piel impf 1cs prep + Qal inf.cs Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
- Isaiah 45:8 תִּפְתַּח Qal impf 3fs Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together; I, Yahweh, have created it.
- Isaiah 50:5 פָּתַֽח Qal pf 3ms The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.
- Isaiah 53:7 יִפְתַּח יִפְתַּ֖ח Qal impf 3ms Qal impf 3ms He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn't open his mouth.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
פתח — transliterated pâthach — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to open.” Different stems carry different senses — BDB groups them under 5 stems, among them Qal and Niphal. With 133 verses in 23 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 7:11, it then recurs through the corpus. Sharing its root, it stands alongside מפתח, מפתח and פתוח. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6605 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 133
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 133 distinct verses.
- 23 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 23 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #309
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 309 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 133 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 133 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 58 verses · 44%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 52 verses · 39%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 23 verses · 17%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Open 20×, Opened 17×, He opened 6×
- American Standard Version†: Open 22×, Opened 16×, He opened 6×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Open 31×, Opened 18×, He opened 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Open 27×, Opened 26×, I will open 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6605 across 144† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 57 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H6605 across 146† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 62 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H6605 across 141† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 63 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6605 across 170† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 59 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
9 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal) and Pual (the passive of Piel).
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 9 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
פתח I open (NH id.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. פ׳ 2 K 15:16 +, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִפְתַּח Ex 21:33 +; 3 mpl. sf. יִפְתָּחוּם Ne 13:19, etc.; Imv. ms. פְּתַח 2 K 13:17 +; fs. פִּתְחִי Ct 5:2; mpl. פִּתְחוּ Jos 10:22 +; Inf. abs. פָּתֹחַ Dt 15:8 +; cstr. לִפְתֹּחַ Ez 21:27 +; Pt. act. פֹּתֵחַ Ju 3:25 +; pass. פָּתוּחַ Je 5:16 +, etc.;—open sack, שַׂק, Gn 42:27 (E), אַמְתַּחַת 43:21; 44:11 (J), skin-bottle (נאוד) Ju 4:19, hamper (תֵּבָה) Ex 2:6 (E), pit (בּוֹר) 21:33 (E; i.e. uncover it), mouth (פִּי) of cave Jos 10:22 (JE), grave Ez 37:12, 13 (to bring forth dead), cf. (in fig.) Je 5:16 ψ 5:10; כְּלִי פָתוּחַ Nu 19:15 (P) open vessel; door (דֶּלֶת; sometimes opp. סָגַר) Ju 3:25 + v 25 (obj. om.), 19:27; 1 S 3:15; 2 K 9:3; 10; 2 Ch 29:3; Jb 31:32; (c. ל pers.); fig. of Leb. Zc 11:1; דַּלְתֵי שָׁמָיִם ψ 78:33 (of י׳, sending rain); ד׳ = city-gates Ne 13:19; Is 45:1; (‖ שְׁעָרִים; י׳ subj., c. לִפְנֵי); ד׳ om. Ct 5:2, 5, 6; gate (שַׁעַר), of land Na 3:13; (Inf. abs. + Impf. Niph. q.v.), cf. Ez 25:9; שַׁעַר of temple (-court) Ez 46:12 (c. ל pers.), ψ 118:19 (id.), city Is 26:2; obj. om. Dt 20:11; 2 K 15:16; window, חַלּוֹן 2 K 13:17(×2); אֲרֻבּוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם (by י׳ sending rain) Gn 8:6 (J); Mal 3:10; city Je 13:19, עִיר פְּתוּחָה Jos 8:17 (JE); abs. פ׳ וְלֹא סגר Is 22:22(×2);—14:17 is dubious, Gr PerlesAnal. 28. 42 Kit (in Di) read לַאֲסִירָיו לֹא־פ׳ בֵּית־הַכֶּלֶא; > Bu Che Marti אֲסִירָיו לֹא פִּתַּח אִישׁ לִבֵיתוֹ; storehouse, armoury Gn 41:56; Je 50:25 (of י׳), Je 50:26 (for destruction), fig. of sky, for rain Dt 28:12; (c. ל pers.; of י׳), cf. open בָּ֑ר, expose for sale, Am 8:5; open womb, i.e. grant offspring Gn 29:31; 30:22 (J); open mouth (פֶּה) to cry, speak Ez 21:27; Jb 3:1; Dn 10:16, hence = speak Is 53:7(×2); Jb 33:2; ψ 39:10; 78:2 (בְּמָשָׁל), 109:2 (c. עַל pers.), Pr 24:7; 31:8 (c. ל pers.), v 9, 26 (בְּחָכְמָה); ψ 49:5 either utter, declare, propound riddle, or open up, expound; have power of speech ψ 38:14; of י׳ giving power of (prophetic) speech Ez 3:27; 33:22, giving speech to ass Nu 22:28 (J); open mouth, to eat Ez 3:2, of earth, to swallow up, Nu 16:32; 26:10, cf. (פֶּה om.) ψ 106:17; open lips, to speak Jb 11:5 (c. עִם pers.), 32:20 (Gi v 21); of י׳ opening man’s lips ψ 51:17, man’s ear Is 50:5 (Assyrian uznâ puttû); of eyes only pt. pass., c. אֶל 1 K 8:29 = 2 Ch 6:20; 1 K 8:52; Ne 1:6; c. לְ 2 Ch 6:40 (by zeugma), 7:15 (all of י׳’s favour); open hand, in giving Dt 15:8, 11 (c. ל pers., + inf. abs.), of י׳ ψ 104:28; 145:16; book Ne 8:5(×2), letter 6:5; open river (channel) Is 41:18 (of י׳), rock, letting out water, ψ 105:41 (id.); open sword, = draw it Ez 21:33 ψ 37:14; of root שָׁרְשִׁי פָתוּחַ אֱלֵי־מָ֑יִם Jb 29:19, i.e. with no obstacle intervening.—תִּפְתַּח אֶרֶץ Is 45:8 is dub.; verb not elsewhere intrans.; Du CheHpt Marti proposes רַחְמָהּ as obj.; Gr Kit (in Di) read תִּפָּתַח. e.g. 2 Kings 15:16
Niphal
- Pf. 3 ms. נִפְתַּח Is 5:27, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִפָּתָח Ez 24:27, יִפָּתֵ֑חַ 44:2 +, etc.; Inf. cstr. הִפָּתֵחַ Is 51:14; Pt. נִפְתָּח Zc 13:1;—be opened, of girdle Is 5:27 (i.e. loosened), cf. of captive 51:14, and, of calamity, Je 1:14 be let loose (c. עַל pers.); gates Na 2:7; 3:13 (of land, thrown open to (ל) enemy), Ez 44:2; 46:1(×2) Ne 7:3; impers. of man shut in by God Jb 12:14; of windows of heaven Gn 7:11 (P), cf. Is 24:13 (of future destruction); the heavens themselves Ez 1:1 (for visions); fountain Zc 13:1; wine(-skin, c. neg.) Jb 32:19; mouth, in speech Ez 24:27; 33:22; ears Is 35:5. e.g. Isaiah 5:27
Piel
- Pf. 3 ms. פִּתַּח Jb 30:11 +, פִּתֵּ֑חַ 12:18 +, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יְפַתַּח Is 28:24, 1 s. אֲפַתֵּחַ Is 45:1, etc.; Inf. abs. פַּתֵּחַ Is 58:6; cstr., id. ψ 102:21; Pt. מְפַתֵּ֑חַ 1 K 20:11;—loose: e.g. Job 30:11
- 1. free, i.e. ungird, camels Gn 24:32 (J): loins of kings Is 45:1 (i.e. disarm them); set free, c. sf. pers. ψ 105:20, Je 40:4 (c. מִן); c. acc. בְּנֵי תְמוּתָה ψ 102:21. e.g. Genesis 24:32
- 2. loosen (and remove) sack-cloth Is 20:2 (c. מֵעַל), ψ 30:12; armour 1 K 20:11 (obj. om.; opp. חָגַר); bonds Jb 12:18 ψ 116:16, cf. Is 58:6 Jb 39:5; cord 30:11; 38:31; loosen ground Is 28:24 (in tillage); cf. VogelstLandwirthschaft 33, Assyrian puttû). e.g. Isaiah 20:2
- 3. open gates Is 60:11; doors Jb 41:6 (fig. of crocodile’s jaws); ear Is 48:8 (read prob. either פִּתַּחְתִּי, פָּתַחְתִּי [𝔊 Du Marti], or נִפְתְּחָה [Gr Che Kit in Di]; buds Ct 7:13 (of blossom; obj. om.; or intrans., as sometimes Arabic فَتَّحَ, v. Dozy). e.g. Isaiah 60:11
Hithpael
- Imv. mpl. התפתחו Is 52:2 Kt הִתְפַּתְּחִי (so 𝔊; of personif. Jerus.) loosen thee (Ges§ 54 f) the fetters of thy neck. e.g. Isaiah 52:2
פתח II
Piel
- engrave (NH Pi. id., פִּתּוּחַ = BH, and so 𝔗; Assyrian patâḫu, bore, penetrate; cf. perhaps Arabic فَتَخَةٌ, فَتْخَةٌ ring (cf. Frä 252));—Pf. 3 ms. פִּתַּח 2 Ch 3:7, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. וַיְפַתַּח 1 K 7:36; 2 ms. תְּפַתַּח Ex 28:11; Inf. cstr. לְפַתֵּחַ 2 Ch 2:6, 13; Pt. מְפַתֵּחַ Zc 3:9;—engrave, c. acc. + עַל, on metal 1 K 7:36 2 Ch 3:7; Ex 28:36 (acc. cogn. פִּתּוּחֵי חוֹתָם), on stone v 9; c. acc. אֶבֶן + acc. cogn. v 11 (all P); c. acc. cogn. only, Zc 3:9 (on stone), and, in gen., 2 Ch 2:6, 13. e.g. 2 Chronicles 3:7
Pual
- Pt. fpl. מְפֻתָּחֹת פִּתּוּחֵי חוֹתָם Ex 39:6 (P) stones engraved with the engravings of a signet. e.g. Exodus 39:6
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. open (NH id.; Ph. פתח; Assyrian pitû, patû; Sab. פתח OsZMG xix (1865), 197; Arabic فَتَحَ; Ethiopic ፈትሐ;; Aramaic פְּתַח, ܦܬܰܚ; Nab. Palm. פתח);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
פָּתַח
- (b. h.)
- 1. to open, begin. Y. Ber. VI, end, 10ᵈ על כל … שהיה פוֹתֵהַ וכ׳ over each cask as he opened it he said the benediction &c. Sabb. 104ᵃ, a. e. פּוֹתְחִין לו (Var. פְּתָחִין), v. טָמֵא I. Ib. 48ᵃ מתירין … אבל לא פותחין you may untie the neck-hole of a shirt, but not cut it open (on the Sabbath). Y. Taan. I, 64ᵇ top (ref. to Is. XLV, 8) כנקבה … פוֹתַחַת וכ׳ like the female that opens for the male. Ned. III, 4 לא יִפְתַּח לו בנדר he must not begin (offer his willingness) to make a vow (in order to escape robbery &c., v. נָדַר); a. v. fr.—Part. pass. פָּתוּחַ; פְּתוּחָה; pl. פְּתוּחִים, פְּתוּחִין; פְּתוּחוֹת. Yeb. 71ᵇ, a. e. נסתם הפ׳, v. סָתַם. Snh. 94ᵃ, v. סָתַם (v. מנצפ"ך). Meg. 3ᵃ, פ׳ באמצע, v. סָתַם. Erub. IV, 6 שלש חצירות הפ׳ זו לזו ופ׳ וכ׳ three courts opening into (communicating with) one another and into the publicroad; a. v. fr.—פתח פתוח, v. פֶּתַח.—Esp. (פרשה) פְּתוּחָה a paragraph in the Torah beginning with a new, indented line, opp. סתומה. Treat. Sof’rim I, 14 איזהו פ׳ כל שלא וכ׳ what is an open paragraph? Such as does not begin at the beginning of a line, וכמה … ותהא נקראת פ׳ and how much space must one leave … for a paragraph to be called open?; a. fr.—Trnsf. [to open the door to,] to introduce (into learning). Y. M. Kat. III, 83ᵇ top איזהו רבו כל שפ׳ לו תחלה who is called one’s (special) teacher? He who was the first to initiate him; a. e.—Esp. to open an opportunity for retracting a vow, to suggest reasons which, if known at the time, would have prevented the person from making the vow, v. חֲרָטָה. Ned. IX, 1 פותחין לאדם בכבוך וכ׳ the judges offer suggestions taken from the respect due to parents (saying, if you had known that this vow cast a reflection on your father &c.). Ib. רִפְתְּחוּ לו בכבוד המקום why not suggest to him the reverence due to the Lord (‘if you had known that he who makes a vow is considered an evil-doer &c.’)? Ib. 4 פותחין לו מן הכתוב וכ׳ we offer suggestions to him from what is written in the Law, saying to him, if you had known that (in fulfilling that vow) you would transgress the law forbidding revenge &c.; a. fr.—B. Kam. 27ᵃ פ׳ בכד וסיים בחבית the Mishnah begins with kad and closes with ḥabith! Ber. 10ᵃ פ׳ בה באשרי וכ׳, v. סוּם I h. Gen. R. s. 84 אתה פָתַחְתָּ תחלה בהצלת וכ׳ thou wast the first man to speak of saving life; אתה פתחת בתשובה וכ׳ thou wast the first to do repentance, … one of thy descendants shall rise and be the first (prophet) to call for repentance; a. fr.—Esp. to open a lecture with a (Biblical) text. Pesik. Aḥăré, p. 170ᵃ ר׳ לוי פ׳ וכ׳ R. Levi took up the text (Ps. LXXV, 5) &c. Gen. R. s. 1; a. v. fr.—Pesik. R. s. 33 [an editorial gloss] פ׳ בכל אלו הפרשיות the author takes his texts from all those (quoted) passages. e.g. Isaiah 45:8
- 2. to explain, speak plainly. Shek. V, 1; Men. 65ᵃ (ref. to פתחיה as identical with מרדכי) he was named Pethahia, שהיה פותח דברים ודורשן וכ׳ (not בדברים) because he explained words and interpreted them (etymologically) and knew seventy languages.—Part. pass. as ab. Sifré Aḥăré, beg., v. סָתַם.
- 1. to be opened. Yeb. 71ᵇ, a. e., v. סָתַם. R. Hash. 16ᵇ שלשה … נִפְתָּחִין בר"ה three books are opened (for recording) on the New Year’s Day. B. Bath. 125ᵇ, v. סוּם I, Nithpa. Pesik. R. l. c. להִיפָּתֵחַ to have one’s bowels opened, v. פְּסִיעָה; a. fr.—Ib. [editorial gloss] ונ׳ עוד שם בפרשת וכ׳ and furthermore this section (Is. LXI, 1) was used as the opening text; a. fr.—Esp. to have one’s eyes opened, to become seeing. Pesik. R. s. 42 כשילדה שדה כל סומא … נ׳ when Sarah gave birth, every blind person in the world was restored to sight; a. e. e.g. Isaiah 61:1
- 1. to open. Ib. פי׳ הפילקיות he opened the prisons. Par. III, 8 ועושין … ומְפַתְּחִין בה חלונות they piled wood in the shape of a tower and opened windows in it. Zeb. 88ᵇ רימונים שלא פִיתְּחוּ פיהן (Ms. K. a. R. 2 נִפְתְּחוּ; Ms. R. 1 נִתְפַּתְּחוּ, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 5) pomegranates which have not yet burst open; a. e.
- 2. to engrave. Y. Ab. Zar. III, 43ᵇ bot פי׳ בה פיתוחים if he cut designs into it.
- 3. to dig, break ground. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XXVIII; Gen. R. s. 76 כשיצמד … יְפַתְּחוּ וישדדו וכ׳ when an ox and a cow are harnessed together, they will break and harrow all valleys.
- 1. to be opened, v. supra. Pesik. R. s. 31 נִתְפַּתְּחוּ בדם they (their cavities) were opened with (discharged) blood; a. e.
- 2. to be cut into, graven. Tosef. Sot. XV, 1; Y. ib. IX, 24ᵇ וכיון … היו מִתְפַּתְּחוֹת לפניו וכ׳ and when they let it (the Shamir, v. שָׁמִיר) look at the stones, they were engraven before it like the (wax-covered) tablets &c.—[Y. Kil. VII, beg. 30ᵈ מתפתחת R. S. to Kil. VIII, 1, v. פִּתְפֵּת.]
פְּתַח
- Targ. Deut. XV, 11. Targ. Is. XIV, 17; a. fr.—Part. pass. פְּתִיחַ; f. פְּתִיחָא; pl. פְּתִיחִין, פְּתִיחַיָּא; פְּתִיחָן a) open. Targ. Num. XIX, 15. Targ. Josh. VIII, 17; a. fr.—b) seeing, v. פְּתִיהַ.—Taan. 24ᵃ אתיא למִיפְתַּח … ולא מִיפְּתַח וכ׳ she came to open the door …, but it could not be opened on account of the wheat pressing against it. Gitt. 69ᵇ לִיפְתַּה הביתא וכ׳ let him open a keg of wine &c. B. Kam. 112ᵇ כגון דפָתְחוּ ליה בדיניה וכ׳ when they (the court) have opened his case (written a warrant, v. פְּתִיחָא II) and sent for him. Ned. 28ᵃ מיפתח הוא דלא יפתח וכ׳ he dare not offer to make oath (in order to escape robbery &c.), but make a vow, he may. Num. R. s. 9 תרעא דלא פתיח וכ׳, v. אָסֵי; a. fr.—Ned. 22ᵃ אע"ג דפ׳ … אנן לא פַתְחִינָן וכ׳ although R. Y. offered such a suggestion for retracting a vow, we must not do so; ולא פתחינן בהדא וכ׳ nor do we offer that other suggestion &c.; a. e.
- same. Lam. R. to I, 1 רבתי, beg. א׳ ליה ביתיה וכ׳ he opened his house to him, and he entered.
- same. Targ. Is. XLV, 1. Ib. XLII, 7.—Part. pass. מְפַתַּח open-eyed, able to see. Lev. R. s. 22 חד סמי וחד מפ׳ (Koh. R. to V, 8 פתיח) one was blind, and the other could see.
- 1. to be opened; to be released. Targ. O. Gen. III, 5; 7. Targ. Job XII, 14; a. fr.—Gitt. 69ᵃ bot. לאִיפַּתּוּחֵי וכ׳ (Rashi לפתיחי, read: לפַתּוּחֵי Pa.) that the boil may open, let somebody blow &c. Ib.ᵇ, v. צְפִירְתָּא; Pes. 42ᵇ; a. e.—Esp. to be restored to sight. Lev. R. l. c. דין דהוה סמי א׳ וכ׳ he who was blind recovered sight &c., v. סְמֵי; Koh. R. l. c. Ib. אִיתְפַּתְּחַת the she-ass recovered &c.; a. e.
פַּתָּח
- (פָּתַח Pi.
- 2. engraver. Pl. פַּתָּחִים. Y. Shek. IV, 48ᵃ top פַּתָּחֵי אבנים (Ms. M. מְפַתְּחֵי) stone engravers.
פִּתֵּחַ
- , v. פִּיתֵּחַ
פֶּתַח
- opening, door, gate. Keth. IV, 3 (ref. to Deut. XXII, 21) אין לה לא פ׳ בית האב וכ׳ if she (the faithless betrothed) has no paternal house door. Y. Sabb. VII, 9ᶜ top ניכר הוא … על פִּיתְחָהּ של תירה it can be seen that this man has never passed the gate of the Law (never studied). Koh. R. to III, 11 זה הפ׳ פתוח עד התהום this gate (verse used as introductory text, v. פָּתַח) opens to the deep, i.e. leads to deep reflection. Gen. R. s. 85 (ref. to פתח עינים, Gen. XXXVIII, 14) תלה עיניה בפ׳ שכל העינים וכ׳ she lifted up her eyes to the gate to which all eyes are directed (she prayed to the Lord). Gen. R. s. 38 פתח … פ׳ של תשובה the Lord opened to them the gate of repentance; a. fr.—Euphem. פ׳ פָּתוּחַ absence of virginity Keth. 9ᵇ טענת פ׳ פ׳, contrad. to טענת דמים, v. דָּם. Ib. 9ᵃ ופ׳ פ׳ כשני עדים דמי and the husband’s statement that lie found ‘the gate open’ is like a statement of two witnesses (to make her forbidden to him as a faithless betrothed); a. fr.—Trnsf. a) an opening for retracting a vow, a suggestion, v. פָּתַח. Gen. R. s. 91 למאה … מצא להם פ׳ for one hundred and fifty Nazarites he found causes for absolution; a. fr.—b) the starting time of menstruation. Arakh. II, 1 אין פ׳ בטועה וכ׳ for a woman that has lost the account of a prolonged flux, there is no new starting point within either less than seven or more than seventeen days. Ib. 8ᵃ פִּתְחָהּ שבעה עשר her sure starting point is after seventeen days; a. fr.—Pl. פְּתָחִים, פְּתָחִין. B. Bath. IX, 1 ישאלו על הפ׳ let them go begging at the doors; Keth. XIII, 3 יחזרו על הפ׳. Cant. R. to V, 2 פתחו לי פתח … ואני פותח לכם פ׳ וכ׳ make for me one opening for return as wide as the point of a needle, and I shall open for you gates through which wagons and coaches can pass; a. fr.—Ab. III, 18 פִּתְחֵי נדה the calculations concerning starting points of menstruants (v. supra). e.g. Deuteronomy 22:21
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 127 distinct written forms H6605 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 67 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6605, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- מפתח maphtêach H4668 key
- מפתח miphtâch H4669 opening
- פתוח pittûwach H6603 engraving
- פתח pᵉthach H6606 to open
- פתח pethach H6607 doorway
- פתח pêthach H6608 opening
- פתחה pᵉthichâh H6609 sword
- פתחון pithchôwn H6610 opening
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- יפתח Yiphtâch H3316 Jephthah
- יפתחאל Yiphtach-ʼêl H3317 Jiphthah-el
- נפתוח Nephtôwach H5318 Nephtoah
- פתחיה Pᵉthachyâh H6611 Pethahiah
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 13 — not the complete family. 4 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 122 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 133 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 7:11
- Exodus 2:6
- Numbers 16:32
- Deuteronomy 15:8
- Joshua 8:17
- Judges 3:25
- 1 Samuel 3:15
- 1 Kings 7:36
- 2 Kings 9:3
- 2 Chronicles 2:7
- Job 3:1
- Psalms 5:9
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
