sa.phah describes taking people or things away, often in ruin or danger, and in some clauses adding one thing to another.

The attested verses most often depict people or things being taken away, overtaken, or removed amid danger, judgment, or loss. A smaller group of clauses uses the verb where offerings, sin, anger, or successive years are added or accumulated.

1. Taken away or overtaken in loss · dominant

   In Genesis 18:23 and Genesis 18:24, Qal imperfect forms occur in Abraham's question about the righteous being swept away with the wicked and the city not being spared. Niphal forms in Genesis 19:15, Numbers 16:26, and 1 Samuel 27:1 place people at risk of being swept away with a city's iniquity, with sinners' sins, or by Saul's hand; in Isaiah 7:20, the Qal imperfect appears in the removal of the beard.

   Genesis 18:23Genesis 18:24Genesis 19:15Numbers 16:261 Samuel 27:1Isaiah 7:20
2. Adding or accumulating · common

   In Isaiah 30:1, the Qal infinitive construct stands in the purpose clause that the APB renders "in order to add sin upon sin." The Qal imperative in Jeremiah 7:21 accompanies the command to add burnt offerings to sacrifices, while Isaiah 29:1, Numbers 32:14, and Deuteronomy 32:23 place the verb in clauses about successive years, increased anger, or calamities being heaped up.

   Isaiah 30:1Jeremiah 7:21Isaiah 29:1Numbers 32:14Deuteronomy 32:23

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the removal use with "swept away," and once with "snatched" or "remove." In the accumulation clauses it uses "add" and "heap," but these are renderings of whole translated verses rather than definitions.