פָּתָה

# פָּתָה (patah): "To Open Wide" The Hebrew verb פָּתָה appears only three times in the biblical text, making it a relatively rare term. According to the lexical data, its core meaning is "to open wide," suggesting an action of spreading or expanding something to its full extent. This physical sense of opening or broadening distinguishes it from more common Hebrew verbs for opening, indicating a particular emphasis on the manner or degree of the opening—specifically, an opening that is expansive or unrestricted. Given its limited occurrence, the word likely carried specialized usage rather than serving as an everyday term for opening. The rarity of פָּתָה in the biblical corpus suggests it may have been employed for specific contexts where the sense of opening "wide" held particular significance. Without access to the specific biblical passages where this word appears, the lexical definition alone indicates that whenever ancient Hebrew writers chose this particular verb, they were emphasizing the expansiveness or generosity of an opening rather than simply indicating that something was opened.