H656 — אָפֵס (ʼaphes)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H656
Original: אָפֵס
Transliteration: ʼaphes
Pronunciation: aw-face'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: אפס — to disappear, cease
Occurrences: 5 unique verses (6 tokens)
First Occurrence: Gen 47:15 — "And when money failed in the land of Egypt..."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to disappear, i.e. cease — be clean gone (at an end, brought to nought), fail.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	5	cease, fail, disappear, come to an end

All 5 occurrences are Qal perfect 3rd masculine singular (אָפֵס). No other stems are attested.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
fail	1	16.7%
faileth	1	16.7%
clean gone	1	16.7%
is at an end	1	16.7%
is brought to nought	1	16.7%
Is	1	16.7%

Note: "Is" and "clean gone" both come from Psalm 77:8, where the KJV renders the single verb as part of the phrase "Is his mercy clean gone for ever?"

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Genesis	2	0.1
Isaiah	2	0.2
Psalms	1	0.04

Spread thinly across only 3 books. No concentrated usage in any single book or genre. The Genesis occurrences are both in the Joseph famine narrative (ch. 47). The Isaiah occurrences describe the cessation of oppressors (16:4, 29:20). The Psalm occurrence is a lament questioning whether God's mercy has ceased.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Resource Exhaustion / Economic Failure¶

Gen 47:15 — "And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread"
Gen 47:16 — "And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail"

2. Cessation of Oppression / Evil¶

Isa 16:4 — "for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land"
Isa 29:20 — "For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off"

3. Questioning the Cessation of Divine Favor¶

Psalm 77:8 — "Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
כָּלָה (kalah)	H3615	2x (40%)	Paired synonyms: "cease" + "consume/finish" in same verse (Isa 16:4, 29:20)
תָּמַם (tamam)	H8552	2x (40%)	Synonymous pairing: money "failed" (aphes) + "was spent" (tamam) (Gen 47:15)
כֶּסֶף (keseph)	H3701	2x (40%)	Subject of the verb: "money failed" (Gen 47:15, 16)
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	2x (40%)	Locative context: "in the land" where failing occurs

Word Family / Cognates¶

H657 אֶפֶס (ephes) — noun form from same root: cessation, end, nothing; used adverbially "only, but, howbeit"; in plural construct אַפְסֵי (aphsey) = "ends of" (the earth). 43 occurrences — far more common than the verb.

Synonyms¶

H3615 כָּלָה (kalah) — to end, finish, consume, complete (206v). Broader range: can mean accomplish/complete positively or consume/destroy negatively. Aphes focuses narrowly on disappearance/cessation.
H3772 כָּרַת (karath) — to cut off, make a covenant (273v). Emphasizes severing or elimination, often with violence or finality ("cut off from among the people").
H1584 גָּמַר (gamar) — to end, complete, accomplish (5v). Rare; overlaps in "come to an end" sense.
H8552 תָּמַם (tamam) — to be complete, finished, spent, consumed (64v). Emphasizes completeness or totality; money "was spent" (tamam) alongside "failed" (aphes) in Gen 47:15.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
כָּלָה (kalah)	H3615	fail, faileth	kalah = broad verb covering completion, consumption, and destruction; aphes = specifically "disappear, cease to exist"
תָּמַם (tamam)	H8552	fail, failed	tamam = "be complete/spent," emphasizing exhaustion of supply; aphes = "cease/disappear," emphasizing the result of being gone
רָפָה (raphah)	H7503	fail	raphah = "slacken, grow weak," a gradual weakening; aphes = absolute cessation, not gradual decline

Semantic Domain¶

Non-Space — concepts of non-existence in spatial terms
Non-Exist — cessation of being
End — terminus, coming to an end

Neighbors in these domains include: אָבַד (abad, H6) "perish," כָּלָה (kalah, H3615) "consume/finish," אָזַל (azal, H235) "be gone," אָסַף (asaph, H622) "gather/be taken away."

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Frequency	PMI	Notes
ἐκλείπω (ekleipo) G1587	3x	6.60	Primary equivalent — "to leave out, fail, cease"

The LXX consistently uses ekleipo for the verb H656, matching the "cease/fail" sense. Co-occurrence count (3) is below the threshold for a cross-testament trace.