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Hebrew verb · H3607

כָּלָא

kalakaw-law'

to restrain

17 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: kâlâʼ

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H3607is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 10 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 16
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H3607

to restrict, by act (hold back or in) or word (prohibit)

The King James renders it: finish, forbid, keep (back), refrain, restrain, retain, shut up, be stayed, withhold.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

kala is rendered "to restrain". It stands 17 times in the Hebrew text, across ten books.

  • Four of the uses stand in Psalms, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 8:2The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
  • The Greek text spells it sixteen different ways.

The first use

The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

Genesis 8:2וַיִּכָּלֵ֥א

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

The word stands in ten of the 39 Old Testament books.

The other 29 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • and it was restrained2
  • shut up2
  • and they were restrained1
  • he had shut up him1
  • he will withhold1
  • I have restrained1
  • I restrain1
  • it has withheld1
  • restrain them1
  • they have withheld1
  • they shut up1
  • to restrain1

and 3 more, 17 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

כָּלָהkalahto end: finishUses208
כָּלַםkalambe humiliatedUses38
כָּלָהkalahconsumptionUses21
כָּלִילkalilentireUses15
כָּלַלkalalto perfectUses2
כָּלֶהkalehlongingUses1
כָּלִבּוֹKalibboCalebiteUses1

All 17, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

16 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • וַיִּכָּלֵ֥א2
  • אֶכְלָ֑א1
  • וַיִּכָּלְא֖וּ1
  • יִכְלֶ֥ה1
  • כָּ֝לֻ֗א1
  • כָּלְאָ֥ה1
  • כְּלָא֔וֹ1
  • כָּלְא֥וּ1
  • כְּלָאֵֽם׃1
  • כָּלִ֣אתִי1
  • כָּל֥וּ1
  • כָלוּא֙1

and 4 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • Hc/VNw3ms2Hc/VNw3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural2HVqp3cp
  • verb · simple (qal), passive participle · masculine singular2HVqsmsa
  • Hc/VNw3mp1Hc/VNw3mp
  • preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)1HR/Vqcc
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singular1HVqi1cs
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular1HVqi2ms
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqi3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), jussive (“let him”) · 2nd person feminine singular1HVqj2fs
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular1HVqp1cs
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person feminine singular + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular1HVqp2fs/Sp1bs
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singular1HVqp3fs

Genesis

two uses
  • The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.

    Genesis 8:2

    • וַיִּכָּלֵ֥אvaiyikale'Hc/VNw3mstagged: and it was restrained
  • “Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”

    Genesis 23:6

    • יִכְלֶ֥הyikhlehverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he will withhold

Exodus

one use
  • After Moses had given an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing more,

    Exodus 36:6

    • וַיִּכָּלֵ֥אvaiyikale'Hc/VNw3mstagged: and it was restrained

Numbers

one use
  • Joshua son of Nun, the attendant to Moses since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

    Numbers 11:28

    • כְּלָאֵֽם׃kelaemverb · simple (qal), command · 2nd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: restrain them

1 Samuel

two uses
  • So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves.

    1 Samuel 6:10

    • כָּל֥וּkaluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they shut up
  • Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

    1 Samuel 25:33

    • כְּלִתִ֜נִיkelitiniverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person feminine singular + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: you have restrained me

Psalms

four uses
  • I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.

    Psalms 40:9

    • אֶכְלָ֑אʾekhla'verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I restrain
  • O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

    Psalms 40:11

    • תִכְלָ֣אtikhla'verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: you will withhold
  • You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.

    Psalms 88:8

    • כָּ֝לֻ֗אkalu'verb · simple (qal), passive participle · masculine singulartagged: shut up
  • I have kept my feet from every evil path, that I may keep Your word.

    Psalms 119:101

    • כָּלִ֣אתִיkalitiverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I have restrained

Ecclesiastes

one use
  • As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

    Ecclesiastes 8:8

    • לִכְל֣וֹאlikhlo'preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to restrain

Isaiah

one use
  • I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth—

    Isaiah 43:6

    • תִּכְלָ֑אִיtikhlaiverb · simple (qal), jussive (“let him”) · 2nd person feminine singulartagged: you withhold

Jeremiah

two uses
  • At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.

    Jeremiah 32:2

    • כָלוּא֙khalu'verb · simple (qal), passive participle · masculine singulartagged: shut up
  • For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the LORD says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

    Jeremiah 32:3

    • כְּלָא֔וֹkelaoverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he had shut up him

Ezekiel

one use
  • This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

    Ezekiel 31:15

    • וַיִּכָּלְא֖וּvaiyikaluHc/VNw3mptagged: and they were restrained

Haggai

two uses
  • Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.

    Haggai 1:10

    • כָּלְא֥וּkaluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have withheld
    • כָּלְאָ֥הkalahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it has withheld

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →