Cleave – (v1) To split, separate, part or divide by force; (v2) To stick-fast, cling, adhere.
This word appears in its various forms 46 times in Scripture: 41 times to Israel in their Masoretic Text Old Testament; 3 times to Israel in their Koine Greek Old Testament (Matthew thru John); Once to Israel in the transition book of Acts; and Once to the Body of Christ in the Gospel of Grace book of Romans. Of the 46 usages, 7 are in verb-1 form, and 39 are in verb-2 form.
Clave – Past-tense form of Cleave.
This word appears in its various forms 14 times in Scripture: 13 times to Israel in their Masoretic Text Old Testament; and once to the Body of Christ in the transition book of Acts. Of the 14 uses, 6 are in verb-1 form and 8 are in verb-2 form.
The word ‘Cleave’ is known as an “Opposing Homonym” or a “Homographic Contranym”.
- They have the exact same spelling
- They have the exact same pronunciation
- But they have the exact opposite definition
They have similar, but different, etymologies. To differentiate this word, they are commonly referred to as Verb 1 and Verb 2.
- Cleave Verb-1 “To split, separate, part or divide by force”, is from the Old Saxon klioban, Proto-Germanic kleuban, Old Norse kljufa, Danish klöve. This words definition is the opposite of the Verb-2 Scripture definition.
- Cleave Verb-2 clifian, cleofian definition of is “To stick-fast, cling, adhere”, is from Old Saxon klibon, West Germanic klibajan and Old High German kliban or kleben, Dutch kleven, German kleben.
As you can see, the base-words, from which the English word was formed, are spelled differently. So, there should have been a different spelling for each of these verb-forms. Instead, the reader must define the verb according to the text.
In modern-use, to avoid confusion, both of these verbs have largely been superseded by (v1) Split, and (v2) Stick.
See also Bible, Cleft/Cloven, Translation