to fall: fall
na.phal most often marks falling in battle or death, and also describes collapse, prostration, attack, and causing something to fall.
The dominant use depicts people falling in battle, by the sword, or in deadly defeat. Other Qal occurrences describe bodies, objects, fire, walls, and persons falling downward or prostrate, while Hiphil forms describe causing people or things to fall and casting lots; a smaller idiomatic group speaks of words or hairs not falling to the ground.
Senses in use
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Fall in battle or die by violence · dominant
In 1 Chronicles 10:1 the Qal sequential imperfect is used where the APB renders that "the slain fell on Mount Gilboa." The same pattern marks men falling by David's hand in 1 Chronicles 20:8, a plague's victims in 1 Chronicles 21:14, and sons and daughters falling "by the sword" in Amos 7:17.
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Fall downward, collapse, or lie prostrate · common
The Qal form describes Saul and his armor-bearer falling upon their swords in 1 Chronicles 10:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:5, and David and the elders falling upon their faces in 1 Chronicles 21:16. It also occurs where the APB renders fire falling in 1 Kings 18:38, a wall falling in 1 Kings 20:30, and an iron tool falling into water in 2 Kings 6:5.
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Fall upon or into another's power · occasional
In 1 Chronicles 21:13, two Qal cohortatives frame David's request to fall into the LORD's hand rather than into human hands. In 2 Kings 7:4, the Qal cohortative occurs in the proposal to "fall upon the camp of Aram," while 1 Chronicles 12:20 uses the form in a clause about men falling upon David.
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Cause to fall or bring down · occasional
Hiphil forms describe deliberate action against a target: in 2 Kings 19:7 the APB renders, "I will cause him to fall by the sword," and in Daniel 8:10 it renders that some of the host and stars were thrown down. The same stem is used for felling trees in 2 Kings 3:19 and 2 Kings 3:25.
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Cast lots and receive a lot · occasional
In 1 Chronicles 24:31 the Hiphil sequential imperfect occurs in the clause the APB renders "cast lots." In 1 Chronicles 26:14, the verse places a Qal form for a lot that "fell eastward" alongside a Hiphil form in the casting of lots; 1 Samuel 14:42 likewise uses a Hiphil imperative before Jonathan is taken.
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Not fall to the ground as loss or failure · rare
In 1 Samuel 3:19, the Hiphil perfect occurs in the statement that none of Samuel's words "fell to the ground." Similar clauses say that no word of the LORD will fall to the ground in 1 Kings 8:56 and 2 Kings 10:10; the related image of a hair not falling to the ground occurs in 1 Samuel 14:45.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly renders the term with "fell," including falling in battle, onto the face, and to the ground; it also uses "cast lots," "cause him to fall," and "felled." Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these renderings confirm the clauses without assigning every English word directly to the lemma.