to overflow
sha.taph describes water or a force surging over and through, and also washing or rinsing with water.
The predominant use depicts waters, rain, or torrents surging over a place or person; the same imagery can portray a forceful advance that passes through lands or sweeps away armies. In several washing clauses, it describes rinsing a person, hands, or an object with water.
Senses in use
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Surging or covering with water · dominant
Qal participles describe an overflowing torrent, rain, or stream in clauses about water’s force: in Isaiah 28:2 the APB renders a “mighty overflowing flood of waters,” and in Ezekiel 13:11 it renders “an overflowing rain.” Qal imperfects likewise describe rivers that will not overflow someone in Isaiah 43:2 and waters that overflow a land and its inhabitants in Jeremiah 47:2.
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Overrunning in a destructive advance · common
In Daniel 11:10 and Daniel 11:40, Qal sequential perfect forms occur in the sequence that the advancing figure will “overflow and pass through” lands. In Daniel 11:22, the Niphal imperfect is used where armies are rendered as being “swept away,” while Isaiah 8:8 describes something that will sweep through Judah and reach to the neck.
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Washing or rinsing with water · occasional
In Leviticus 15:11, a Qal perfect appears in the condition concerning someone who has not rinsed his hands in water, and Leviticus 15:12 uses a Niphal imperfect for a wooden object to be rinsed in water. Ezekiel 16:9 has a first-person Qal sequential imperfect in the clause the APB renders, “I washed you with water,” while 1 Kings 22:38 places the action at the washing of a chariot.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB variously uses “overflow,” “sweep away,” “torrent,” “rinsed,” and “washed” in clauses containing the term. Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these renderings show the clauses’ presentation rather than fixed equivalents.