כָּלָה
to finish
‘to finish’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
Stem
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘complete’
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘be complete’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel.
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
1 verse where H3615 appears in the Piel stem in the Book of Proverbs. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Proverbs
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, כלה (kâlâh) means “to finish.” Older and newer Bibles part ways — “had made an end” in the King James Version, “had finished” (Berean Standard Bible) and “finished” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions. See the renderings breakdown. It appears 199 verses across 29 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 2:1. Read the stem: it spans 3 stems, including Qal and Piel. Dig into 199-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3615 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 199
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 199 distinct verses.
- 29 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 29 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #234
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 234 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 199 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Psalms 21 verses 11%
- Genesis 16 verses 8%
- 2 Chronicles 16 verses 8%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 199 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 82 verses · 41%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 72 verses · 36%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 45 verses · 23%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 4 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Had made an end 12×, Consume 8×, Finished 8×
- American Standard Version†: Them 9×, Came to pass 7×, Consume 7×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Had finished 22×, Fail 8×, Finished 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Finished 18×, And 16×, When 12×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3615 across 207† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 111 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H3615 across 206† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 109 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H3615 across 206† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 114 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3615 across 256† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 85 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
23 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Pual (the passive of Piel).
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 23 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
כלה I be complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spent (NH id., Pi.
Qal
- Pf. כ׳ 1 K 6:38 +; 3 fs. כָּֽלְתָה 1 S 20:7 +; 1 s. כָּלִיתִי ψ 39:11; 3 pl. כָּלוּ Jb 19:27 +; 2 mpl. כְּלִיתֶם Mal 3:6; וּכְלִיתֶם consec. Ez 13:14; 1 pl. כָּלִינוּ ψ 90:7, etc.; Impf. יִכְלֶה Pr 22:8; juss. יִ֫כֶל Jb 33:21 (v. Dr§ 171–173 Ges§ 109. 2 b Anm. Da Synt. § 51 R. 5; 64 R. 6); 3 fs. תִּכְלָה 1 K 17:14; וַתֵּ֫כֶל Ex 39:32 + 2 S 13:39 (v. infr.); 3 mpl. יִכְלוּ Is 1:28 +, יִכְלָי֑וּן Is 31:3, etc.; Inf. cstr. כְּלוֹת Ru 2:23 +, etc.;— e.g. 1 Kings 6:38
- 1.
- a. be complete, at an end, of a period of time Gn 41:53 (E; opp. iii. חלל Hiph. begin v 54), Je 8:20 (‖ עבר); so of action or event, with emphasis on time Is 10:25; 24:13; Ru 2:23; 2 Ch 29:28 (opp. הֵחֵל v 27), v 34 Dn 12:7 (‖ קֵץ v 6, 9);—vid. also 2 b infr. e.g. Genesis 41:53
- b. be completed, finished, of a work: temple 1 K 6:38 1 Ch 28:20; 2 Ch 8:16 (‖ שָׁלֵם), tabernacle Ex 39:32 (P). e.g. 1 Kings 6:38
- c. be accomplished, fulfilled, only of purposed wrath, or prediction of י׳, Ez 5:13 (‖ כַּלּוֹתִי v b see Pi.), Dn 11:36 2 Ch 36:22 = Ezr 1:1. e.g. Ezekiel 5:13
- d. be ideally complete, be determined, always in bad sense, plotted, subj. הָרָעָה: sq. מֵעִם of agent 1 S 20:7, also v 9 (+ לָבוֹא עַל), + v 33 (read כָּֽלְתָה, for MT כָּלָה הִיא, 𝔊 We Dr Kit Bu); כ׳ הָרָעָה אֶל־אֲדֹנֵינוּ וְעַל־כָּל־בֵּיתוֹ 25:17; sq. מֵאֵת of agent Est 7:7 (+ אֵלָיו). e.g. 1 Samuel 20:7
- 2.
- a. be spent, used up (proposes come to an end), of water Gn 21:15 (E) meal 1 K 17:14, 16. e.g. Genesis 21:15
- b. waste away, be exhausted, fail, lit. of fading grass Is 15:6 (‖ יָבֵשׁ, לֹא היה), of vintage 32:10 (opp. בּוֹא), of vanishing cloud Jb 7:9 (in sim., ‖ הלך); fig. of fleeting days of life v 6 (‖ קלל), cf. ψ 102:4 and כָּלוּ בְיָגוֹן חַיַּי ψ 31:11, Je 20:18; v. also 1 a supr.; of flesh Jb 33:21, cf. of vital strength ψ 71:9, בָּשָׂר וּשְׁאֵר Pr 5:11, כ׳ שְׁאֵרִי וּלְבָבִי ψ 73:26, subj. רוּחִי 143:7; once of י׳’s compassion לֹא־כָלוּ רִחֲמָיו La 3:22 (‖ תמם, on text. see VB); especially of eyes exhausted by weeping La 2:11, strained by looking (fig.) for relief or refreshment, fail, languish 4:17 ψ 69:4; Jb 11:20; 17:5; Je 14:6 (of wild asses); sq. אֶל La 4:17; sq. לְ in spiritual sense ψ 119:82, 123; similarly (sq. לִ) of נפשׁ exhausted by longing ψ 84:3 (‖ נכסף), 119:81, כָּלוּ כִלְיֹתַי בְּחֵקִי Jb 19:27; so also 2 S 13:39 where read וַתֵּכֶל רוּחַ הַמֶּלֶךְ (for MT וַתְּכַל דָּוִד הַמּ׳) and the spirit of the king pined to go forth unto Absalom, cf. 𝔊L We Klo Dr Kit Bu. e.g. Isaiah 15:6
- c. come to an end, vanish = perish, be destroyed, by י׳’s judgment Is 1:28 (‖ שֶׁבֶר), 16:4 (‖ אָפֵם, תָּמַם), 29:20 (‖ אָפֵם, נִכְרַת), 31:3 (‖ כשׁל, נפל), וּבַחֶרֶב וּבָרָעָב יִכְלוּ Je 16:4, cf. 44:27 (‖ תָּמַם), Ez 5:12 (‖ מוּת, נָפַל), 13:14 Mal 3:6 ψ 37:20(×2) (‖ אבד), Jb 4:9 (‖ id.), ψ 71:13 (‖ בּוֹשׁ); hyperbol., of severe discipline 39:11; 90:7 (‖ נבהל); of prosperity of a people Is 21:16; שֵׁבֶט עֶבְרָתוֹ יִכְלֶה Pr 22:8 the rod of his wrath perishes (> Ew al. is accomplished, of God’s wrath).—Dn 12:7 read perhaps וְכִכְלוֹת יַד נֹפֵץ עַם קֹדֶשׁ and when the power of the shatterer of the holy people should come to an end, so Bev after 𝔊 (for difficult MT וּכְכַלּוֹת נַפֵּץ יַד־עַם־קֹדֶשׁ)†. e.g. Isaiah 1:28
Piel
- Pf. כִּלָּה Gn 18:33 +, כִּלָּא Pr 16:30 Baer (van d. H. כִּלָּה), sf. כִּלָּנוּ 2 S 21:5, כִּלָּם La 2:22; 3 fs. וְכִלְּתָה consec. Ho 11:6, sf. וְכִ֫לַּתּוּ consec. Zc 5:4; 1 s. כִּלִּיתִי Nu 25:11, כִּלֵּיתִי Is 49:4, וְכִלֵּיתִ֫י Ez 6:12 + 2 times; sf. כִּלִּיתִים Ez 22:31, וְכִלִּיתִיךָ consec. Ex 33:5; 3 pl. כִּלּוּ Gn 24:19 +, etc.; Impf. יְכַלֶּה Is 10:18; וַיְכַל Gn 2:2; 3 fs. וַתְּכַל Gn 24:19 + 2 S 13:39 (but read וַתֵּכֶל We Dr al., and v. Qal 2 b); 1 s. אֲכַלֶּה Gn 24:25 + 4 times; וָאֲכַל Ez 43:8; sf. אֲכֶלְךָ Ex 33:3 (Kö i 545); 3 mpl. יְכַלּוּ Jb 36:11 + 21:13 Qr (Kt יבלו; v. בלה p. 115 supr.), + etc.; Imv. כַּלֵּה ψ 59:14(×2) + 74:11 (but text dub., v. infr., 2); mpl. כַּלּוּ Ex 5:13; Inf. abs. כַּלֵּה 1 S 3:12 + 5 times; cstr. לְכַלֵּא Dn 9:24 (metapl. form), כַּלּוֹת 1 S 2:33 +, etc.; Pt. מְכַלֶּה Je 14:12; Jb 9:22; fpl. מְכַלּוֹת Lv 26:16;— e.g. Genesis 18:33
- 1.
- a. complete, bring to an end, finish a thing, task, work, etc., c. acc. rei Ex 5:13, 14 (+ inf.; both J), 1 K 6:9, 14; 7:1; Ez 42:15, Gn 2:6; 6:16; Ex 40:33 (P), Ru 2:21; 2 Ch 31:1; 2 Ch 7:11; Ezr 9:1, so לְכַלֵּא הַפֶּשַׁע Dn 9:24 to make an end of the transgression (cf. VB Bev); Lv 23:22 (modified from 19:9 q.v. infr.); acc. om. 2 Ch 31:7 (opp. הֵחֵל לְ), 24:10, 14; Ne 3:34. e.g. Exodus 5:13
- b. complete a period of time יָמִים Ez 4:6, 8; complete one’s days, enjoy the full measure of human life Jb 21:13; 36:11, or bring one’s years to an end ψ 90:9, with added idea of transitoriness. e.g. Ezekiel 4:6
- c. finish doing a thing, usually sq. ל inf. Gn 18:33; 24:15, 19(×2), 22 (all J), 17:22; Ex 31:18; Nu 4:15 (all P), Am 7:2 1 K 1:41; 2 Ch 29:29; Ru 3:3 + 31 times incl. 2 S 11:19, where obj. of infin. precedes it, v. Dr, so Lv 19:9 (cf. 23:22 supr.); + 1 Ch 27:24 (לְ inf. om.; opp. הֵחֵל לְ), 2 Ch 29:17; + Dn 12:7 (inf. without לְ; but see Qal 2 c ad fin.); sq. מִן inf., 1 S 10:13 2 S 6:18 = 1 Ch 16:2, Ex 34:33; Lv 16:20; Jos 19:51 (all P), Ez 43:23. e.g. Genesis 18:33
- d. make an end, end, sq. בְּ make an end with, finish dealing with 2 Ch 20:23; Ezr 10:17; abs., opp. הֵחֵל, בַּגָּדוֹל הֵחֵל וּבַקָּטֹן כִּלָּה Gn 44:12 (J) he began with the eldest and with the youngest he ended; so inf. abs. adverb. הָחֵל וְכַלֵּה 1 S 3:12 a beginning and an ending, i.e. doing it thoroughly (v. Dr); also עַד־כַּלֵּה = utterly 2 K 13:17, 19, to extremity Ezr 9:14 (of י׳’s anger), עַד־לְכַלֵּה (late) = completely 2 Ch 24:10 (until all had given), 31:1 (until all were destroyed). e.g. 2 Chronicles 20:23
- e. accomplish, fulfil, bring to pass, a thing Ru 3:18; c. acc. of י׳’s wrath (חֲמָתוֹ) La 4:11; so (חֲמָתִי, אַפִּי) + ב pers. Ez 5:13; 6:12; 7:8; 13:15; 20:8, 21. e.g. Ruth 3:18
- f. accomplish in thought, determine (cf. Qal 1 d) sq. רָעָה Pr 16:30 (‖ חשׁב). e.g. Proverbs 16:30
- 2.
- a. put an end to, cause to cease Nu 17:25 (+ מֵעָלַי); וַיְכַל־בַּהֶבֶל יְמֵיהֶם ψ 78:33 and he consumed (caused to vanish) in vanity their days. e.g. Numbers 17:25
- b. cause to fail, exhaust, use up, spend, חִצַּי אֲכַלֶּה־בָּם Dt 32:23 my arrows will I exhaust against them; exhaust one’s strength כֹּחַ Is 49:4 (‖ יָגַע); the eyes (by weeping; cf. Qal 2 b) 1 S 2:33; Jb 31:16; of a disease, consume the eyes Lv 26:16 (H). e.g. Deuteronomy 32:23
- c. destroy, sometimes exterminate: (1) men subj., c. acc. pers. 2 S 21:5; 22:39 (‖ מחץ), Dt 7:22 2 Ch 8:8; Je 10:25 (‖ אכל), La 2:22 ψ 119:87; especially in phr. עַד כַּלּוֹתָם 1 S 15:18 (on text. v. Dr), 2 S 22:38 (‖ השׁמיד) = ψ 18:38, 1 K 22:11 = 2 Ch 18:10; (2) God subj., c. acc. pers. Jos 24:20 (E), Is 10:18 (Assyrian host, under fig. of forest); Je 5:3; Ex 32:10; 33:3, 5 (JE), Nu 16:21; 17:10; 25:11 (all P), Lv 26:44 (H), Ez 20:13; 22:31; 43:8 Jb 9:22; עַד כַּלֹּתוֹ אֹתְךָ Dt 28:21, עַד כַּלּוֹתִי אוֹתָם Je 9:15; 49:37; abs. ψ 59:14(×2); so also (si vera l.) 74:11 (see VB; Bi Che בְּקֶרֶב חֵקְךָ תִּכְלָא and thy right hand (why) keepest thou in thy bosom); acc. + ב instr. Je 14:12 (by sword, famine, and pestilence); sometimes the instrument of י׳’s judgment becomes grammat. subj.; subj. הַחֶרֶב Ho 11:6 (obj. בַּדָּיו, of city; ‖ אכל), subj. עֵגֶל Is 27:10 (obj. סְעִפֶֿיהָ; ‖ רָעָה), subj. flying roll Zc 5:4 (obj. house). e.g. 2 Samuel 21:5
Pual
- Pf. 3 pl. כָּלּוּ ψ 72:20 be finished, ended; Impf. 3 mpl. וַיְכֻלּוּ Gn 2:1 be completed (P). e.g. Psalms 72:20
כלה II completion, complete destruction, consumption, annihilation
- 1. completion, but only as adv., and dubious: completely, altogether Gn 18:21 (J; read כֻּלָּם Ol Kau Buhl), Ex 11:1 (si vera l.) e.g. Genesis 18:21
- 2. complete destruction, consumption, annihilation:
- a. almost always by God, especially עָשָׂה כ׳ Is 10:23 (+ וְנֶחֱרָצָה), Na 1:8 (2 acc., si vera l.; Buhl ZAW 1885, 181 proposes בְּקָמָיו for מְקוֹמָהּ v. Id.HWB 12 KauAT, Text Krit. Erläut. p. 65; v. also מָקוֹם sub קום), v 9 Je 4:27 Ne 9:31 (2 acc.); + אֵת pers. = with, pergn. sense, = in dealing with (cf. II. אֵת 1 d), Zp 1:18 (כ׳ אַךְ נִבְהָלָה), Je 5:18; 30:11 = 46:28 (אֹתְךָ = אִתְּךָ), Ez 11:13; 20:17 (אוֹתָם = אִתָּם); + בְּכָל־גּוֹיִם Je 30:11; 46:28; without עשׂה: כ׳ וְנֶחֱרָצָה שָׁמַעְתִּי Is 28:22, עַד־כ׳ וְנ׳ Dn 9:27 (on both cf. Is 10:23; Zp 1:18); לְכָלָה for annihilation Ez 13:13 (si vera l., v. Co), וְלֹא לְהַשְׁחִית לְכ׳ 2 Ch 12:12. e.g. Isaiah 10:23
- b. by men, וְכ׳ אַל־תַּעֲשׂוּ Je 5:10; וְכ׳ בְיָדוֹ Dn 11:16 and (i.e. with) annihilation in his hand. e.g. Jeremiah 5:10
כלה III (√ of foll.
כלה IV (√ of i. כֶּלַח, meaning dub.
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. vb. be complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spent (NH id., Pi.; Ph. כלה; Assyrian kalû, put an end to, and cease, vanish Dl HWB 329; late Aramaic כְּלָא cease, perish (not 𝔗); on root-meaning enclose cf. כלא and Ba ZMG 1887, 605)—
II. n.f. completion, complete destruction, consumption, annihilation; always this form;—
I. (√ of foll.; meaning unknown).
I. (√ of i. כֶּלַח, meaning dub.; Arabic كَلَحَ is contract the face, look hard, stern; كَلَاحِ, كُلَاحٌ a hard year (through dearth, etc.)).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
*כְּלָה
- (v. אוּכְלָא, עוּכְלָא)K’lah, a measure for spices. Y. Bets. III, end, 62ᵇ תן לי כ׳ וכ׳ give me a k’lah of spices, for housekeepers are in the habit of putting a k. of spices &c. Y. Peah VIII, 20ᵈ bot. כולה תבלין a K. is the ordinary quantity for spices; (Erub. 29ᵃ; R. S. to Peah VIII, 5 עוכלא).
כַּלָּה
- 1. [crown, ornament, v. Is. XLIX, 18,] (sub. בעלת or בת, cmp. אִיתּוּ, חוֹרִים a. בֶּן חוֹרִים) bride; daughter-in-law. Yeb. I, 1 וכַלָּתוֹ and his (deceased) son’s wife. Sot. IX, 14 שתצא הב׳ וכ׳ that the bride on her wedding day may be taken around in procession, v. אַפִּרְיוֹן. Keth. 71ᵇ; Pes. 87ᵃ ככ׳ שנמצאת וכ׳ like a bride (daughter-in-law) found perfect in the house of her father-in-law. Ib. כ׳ בבית אביה a bride in her father’s house (not yet taken to her husband’s paternal house). Ex. R. s. 41 (play on ככלתו, Ex. XXXI, 18, cmp. כְּלַל Pa.) מה כ׳ זו מקושטת וכ׳ as the bride is adorned &c.; a. fr. [Tanḥ. Ki Thissa 18 כ׳ נופי, read with ed. Bub. ib. 9 קלי נינפי.]—Pl. כַּלּוֹת. Sot. l. c. עטרות כ׳ (Talm. ed. sing.) the bridal wreaths. Ib. 49ᵇ; a. fr e.g. Isaiah 49:18
- 2. general assembly, esp. Kallah, the assembly of Babylonian students in the months of Elul and Adar. Ber. 8ᵇ פרשייתא דכ׳ Ar. (Ms. Paris דכַלָּא, v. Rabb. D. S., Vol. I, p. 384; ed. דכולא שתא) the weekly Scripture lessons of the Kallah weeks (during which R. Bibi could not find time to peruse the section of each week). Ib. 6ᵃ, v. דּוּחֲקָא. Ib. 57ᵃ ראש לבני כ׳; B. Bath. 22ᵃ ריש כ׳ the president of the Kallah.—Pl. (of כַּלָּא) כַּלֵּי. Ḥull. 49ᵃ רישי כ׳.—מסכת כלה, מסכתא דכ׳ a (small) treatise of the Talmud named Kallah (from its first word). Sabb. 114ᵃ; Kidd. 49ᵇ; Taan. 10ᵇ; [oth. opin.: a subject which has been discussed in the general assembly].
כָּלָה
- , v. כלי
כלי
- v. כָּלַל)
- 1. to enclose; to restrain, keep back. Midr. Till. to Ps. CXIII לִכְלוֹת את המכה וכ׳ to ward this plague off from thee. Midd. IV, 6 כֹּלֵה עֹרֵב ‘keeping off the raven’, an arrangement of iron points on the roof of the Temple; Sabb. 90ᵃ כּוֹלֵי עורב (pl.) Ms. M. (ed. כַּלְיָיא ch.; v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note); Men. 107ᵃ כולי Ms. M. (ed. כַּלְיָה); M. Kat. 9ᵃ כולי Ms. M. (ed. כליא); Arakh. 6ᵃ כליה.—Part. pass. כָּלוּי. Y. Naz. II, beg. 51ᵈ כ׳ אני ממנו I will be restrained from it (for ‘I will abstain’).
- 2. (cmp. שלם) to be full, to be finished, to cease. Ber. 39ᵃ צריך שתִּכְלֶה ברכה וכ׳ the benediction must be finished simultaneously with breaking the bread. Tanḥ. Ki Thissa 5 כבר כָּלוּ ישראל וכ׳ Israel would have ceased to exist; (Pesik. Shek., p. 13ᵇ חיו … מְכוּלִּין, v. infra). Snh. 97ᵇ כלו כל הקצין all the predicted terms of redemption are ended (have passed by); a. fr.—[Pesik. R. s. 12 מת וכלה בקבר, read: ובלה.]—Part. (fr. כּוּל, cmp. חוּל, part. חולות a. חלות) כָּל. Snh. 17ᵃ (ref. to כלאם, Num. XI, 28) הטל … והן כָּלִין מאליהם throw upon them the care for the public, and they will cease (to prophesy) of themselves; a. fr. e.g. Numbers 11:28
- 1. to finish, cease. Yoma 60ᵇ (ref to Lev. XVI, 20) אם כפר כ׳ when he has atoned (for the sanctuary &c.), he has finished (his task). Ib. אם כ׳ כפר when he has done all (the prescribed ritual), he has achieved atonement; Sifra Aḥăré ch. IV, Par. 4; a. e.—Tanḥ. Vayetse 2 מְכַלִּין את שדותיהן they reap their fields entirely (leaving no corners for the poor). Snh. 67ᵇ כַּלֵּה מִדַּבְּרוֹתֶיךָ ולך וכ׳ (some ed. כלך, v. Rab. D. S. a. l. note) cease from thy homiletical interpretations, and turn to &c.; Midr. Till. to Ps. CIV, 6; Ex. R. s. 10, v. כַּלֵּךְ. e.g. Leviticus 16:20
- 2. to finish, destroy. Y. Shek. VI, 50ᵇ top (ref. to מכלות, II Chr. IV, 21) הן כִּילּוּ וכ׳ they (these vessels) consumed all the gold (of the country); Men. 29ᵃ שכִּילַּתּוֹ וכ׳ it consumed &c. Pesik. R. s. 2 שכי׳ אותה וכ׳ whom the Lord destroyed. Num. R. s. 3 היה הארון מְכַלֶּה בבני וכ׳ the Ark made havoc among the sons of Kehath (who had charge of it; cmp. II Sam. VI, 7). Mekh. B’shall., Amalek, s. 2 לכַלָּן to destroy them. Y. Ḥag. II, 78ᵃ bot. (cited in Tosaf. to Ḥag. 17ᵇ a. v. אלא) ובלבד שיְכַלֶּה עיסתו (ed. שיבלים) provided he has used up all his dough for the day; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְכוּלֶּה, pl. מְכוּלִּין. Pesik. Shek., p. 13ᵇ כבר היו ישראל מ׳ וכ׳ Israel would then have been destroyed; a. e. e.g. 2 Chronicles 4:21
- to be destroyed, visited by death. Num. R. s. 5 היו מִתְכַּלִּין they were diminished. Ib. שלא יִתְכַּלּוּ מן וכ׳ that they may not be destroyed from the world. Num. R. s. 3 לא נ׳ וכ׳ not one of them was missing on being counted &c.; a. e.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 159 distinct written forms H3615 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 99 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3615, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- כלה kâleh H3616 longing
- כלה kâlâh H3617 completion
- כלי kᵉlîy H3627 vessel
- כליון killâyôwn H3631 pining
- מכלה miklâh H4357 perfection
- תכלה tiklâh H8502 perfection
- תכלית taklîyth H8503 end
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 9 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 181 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 199 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 2:1
- Exodus 5:13
- Leviticus 16:20
- Numbers 4:15
- Deuteronomy 7:22
- Joshua 8:24
- Judges 3:18
- Ruth 2:21
- 1 Samuel 2:33
- 2 Samuel 6:18
- 1 Kings 1:41
- 2 Kings 10:25
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
