קָדַר
to mourn
‘to mourn’ is one of 3 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.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘consec.’
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”). Here: ‘darken’
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself).
Form
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- 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).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would 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”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 10 distinct
- Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 5 times (29%)
- Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 3 times (18%)
- Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 times (12%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (6%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 time (6%)
+2 more forms (2 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 17 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H6937 appears — 17 distinct verses across 7 books. 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.
1 Kings 1 verse
Job 3 verses
- Job 5:11 וְ֝/קֹדְרִ֗ים conj + Qal ptcp.act mp So that he sets up on high those who are low, Those who mourn are exalted to safety.
- Job 6:16 הַ/קֹּדְרִ֥ים ptcl def.art + Qal ptcp.act mp Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself:
- Job 30:28 קֹדֵ֣ר Qal ptcp.act ms I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
Psalms 4 verses
- Psalms 35:14 קֹדֵ֥ר Qal ptcp.act ms I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.
- Psalms 38:6 קֹדֵ֥ר Qal ptcp.act ms I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.
- Psalms 42:9 קֹדֵ֥ר Qal ptcp.act ms I will ask God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"
- Psalms 43:2 קֹדֵ֥ר Qal ptcp.act ms For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Jeremiah 3 verses
- Jeremiah 4:28 וְ/קָדְר֥וּ conj + Qal wpf 3cp For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.
- Jeremiah 8:21 קָדַ֕רְתִּי Qal pf 1cs For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.
- Jeremiah 14:2 קָדְר֣וּ Qal pf 3cp Judah mourns, and the gates of it languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
Ezekiel 3 verses
- Ezekiel 31:15 וָ/אַקְדִּ֤ר conj + Hiphil wimpf 1cs Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the rivers of it; and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
- Ezekiel 32:7 וְ/הִקְדַּרְתִּ֖י conj + Hiphil wpf 1cs When I shall extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars of it dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.
- Ezekiel 32:8 אַקְדִּירֵ֖/ם Hiphil impf 1cs + sfx pers 3mp All the bright lights of the sky will I make dark over you, and set darkness on your land, says the Lord Yahweh.
Joel 2 verses
Micah 1 verse
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.
The Hebrew verb קדר centers on the idea of “to mourn.” Its earliest occurrence is 1 Kings 18:45. Spanning 17 verses in 7 books, it ranks among the uncommon words of the Hebrew Bible. Across 2 stems, its meaning turns on the binyan (Qal, Hiphil). Related forms include קדרות, קדרנית and קדר. Dig into 17-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6937 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 →
- 17
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 17 distinct verses.
- 7 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 7 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,671
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,671 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 17 occurrences in the concordance →
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 17 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 10 verses · 59%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 41%
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).
- King James Version: I mourning 2×, Mourn 2×, Mourning 2×
- American Standard Version: Mourning 3×, Are darkened 2×, Mourn 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Sorrow 2×, Will grow dark 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Mourning 4×, And 2×, Become dark 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6937 across 18 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H6937 across 18 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 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 H6937 across 17 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 13 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6937 across 19 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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.
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 4 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.
Qal
- Pf. consec. וְקָדַר Mi 3:6; 1 s. קָדַרְתִּי Je 8:21, etc.; Pt. קֹדֵר ψ 35:14 +; pl. קֹדְרִים Jb 5:11; 6:16;—be dark, of sky Je 4:28 (leaden-coloured, as with clouds, v. Hithp.), of sun and moon Jo 2:10; 4:15; fig. of lack of revelation from י׳, וְק׳ עֲלֵיהֶם הַיּוֹם Mi 3:6; of turbid stream Jb 6:16; fig. of mourning (prob. be squalid, of neglected person and dress of mourner, cf. 2 S 19:25) Je 8:21; 14:2 (לָאָרֶץ, metaph. of gates); Jb 5:11; 30:28 (בְּלֹא חַמָּה), ψ 35:14; 38:7; 42:10; 43:2. e.g. Micah 3:6
Hiphil
- 1. darken: Pf. 1 s. consec. וְהִקְדַּרְתִּי Ez 32:7 (obj. stars), cf. Impf. 1 s. sf. אַקְדִּירֵם עָלֶיךָ 32:8. e.g. Ezekiel 32:7
- 2. cause to mourn וָאַקְדִּר עָלָיו לְבָנוֹן 31:15. e.g. Ezekiel 31:15
Hitph
- Pf. 3 pl. וְהַשָּׁמַיִם הִתְקַדְּרוּ עָבִים 1 K 18:45 and the heavens grew dark with clouds. e.g. 1 Kings 18:45
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
vb. be dark (dull-coloured, cf. Arabic قَذُرَ / قَذِرَ be dirty (on ذ = ד v. NöZMG xi (1886), 729); NH Hiph. (of face) shew gloom; 𝔗 J קְדַר be dark);—
— 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.
קָדַר I
- (cmp. כָּדַר, גָּדַר, גָּדַד) to cut around, perforate, cut out. Sabb. 116ᵃ; Y. ib. XVI, 15ᶜ bot. קוֹדֵר (Ar. קוֹדֵד), v. אַזְכָּרָה. Snh. 103ᵇ מנשה ק׳ וכ׳ (Ar. קדר) Manasseh cut the divine names out (of the Scriptures). Kidd. 22ᵇ קוֹדֵד ויורד וכ׳ Ar. (ed. דוקד והולך) one must bore (through the slave’s ear) until the door is reached. Ḥull. 77ᵃ כל שהרופא קוֹדְרוֹ (Ar. a. Ms. M. correct. קוֹדְדוֹ, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) such flesh as the physician cuts out; a. e.—Part. pass. (קָדוּד) קָדוּר. Ab. Zar. 32ᵃ (expl. עור לבוב) כל שקרוע … וק׳ וכ׳ a hide which is slit open opposite the heart and cut out like an air-hole; Tosef. ib. IV (V), 7 כל שק׳ כנגד לבו Var. ed. Zuck. (text שנקוב, oth. ed. שקרוע). Ukts. II, 4 קְדוּרָה (ed. Dehr. קְדוּדָה) cut into, opp. שלמה.
- 1. to cut through; (in measuring distances) to estimate the level distance between two places separated by mountains. Erub. V, 4 (58ᵃ) שמעתי שמְקַדְּרִין בהרים (Y. ed. Ven. שמְקַדְּדִין; v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 90) I have heard a tradition that in measuring Sabbath distances elevations are considered as cut through. Ib. 58ᵇ כיצד מְקַדְּרִין וכ׳ how is the measuring done to obtain the tunnel distance? He who stands below holds the rope against his heart, while he who stands above holds the other end of the rope against his feet. Ib. אין מקדרין אלא בחבל וכ׳ only a rope of four cubits can be used for measuring &c. Ib. אין מקדרין לא בעגלה וכ׳ this method of measuring distances is not applied in the case of a slain body found in the field (v. עֶגְלָה), or for cities of refuge. Tosef. ib. VI (V), 11 מְקַדֵּר ועולה מק׳ ויורד וכ׳ we go up measuring the air-line and down again (on the other side), and consider the elevation as if it were cut through before us. Erub. 58ᵃ מַקְדִּיר ועולה וכ׳; Tosef. l. c. 12 מקדר. Y. ib. V, 22ᵈ (repeatedly מְקַדְּדִין). Ib. מקדימין (corr. acc.). Y. Sot. V, 20ᵇ bot. מקדדין; Y. Macc. II, end, 32ᵃ מקדרין; a. fr.—Y. Keth. XIII, 36ᵇ top מקדר ויוצא וכ׳ he may cut his way through the vines and get out (v. פָּסַג).—[Pes. 11ᵇ מקדרין, read: מקרדין, v. קָרַד.]
- 2. (denom. of קָדֵר or קַדָּר) to make pots, pretend to be a potter. Ruth R. to I, 1 (s. 2), v. קַדָּרוּת.
- to cut through; to penetrate. Erub. 58ᵃ, v. supra. Nidd. 56ᵇ; Tosef. ib. VI, 13 מַקְדִּיר, v. גָּלַד; [perh. fr. קָדַר II, becomes dull].
- to be cut out. Ḥull. 77ᵃ נ׳ כמין טבעת (Ar. נִקְדַּד) if the flesh over a fracture is cut out like a ring. Ib. 57ᵇ רחל … שנ׳ קנה שלה וכ׳ a lamb … whose windpipe was perforated, and they inserted a tube of reed, and it recovered.
קְדַר
- , to penetrate. Men. 83ᵃ בשר אגב דשמין קָדֵיר (Ms. M. קריר, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) meat being fat penetrates (the fat is communicated to an object with which it comes in contact); Zeb. 98ᵃ משום דקריר (Ms. K. דקדיר; Ms. R. 1 דקריד; v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 6). Ib. 79ᵇ שאני רוק דקדיר Ms. M. (ed. דקריר; Ms. R. 2 a. Ms. K. דקריד; Ms. R. 1 דקרור) it is different with saliva, because it penetrates.
- to measure level distances. Y. Bicc. I, end, 64ᵇ מאן דמְקַדֵּר וכ׳, v. שִׁגְרוֹנַיָּיה.
- to be caved or arched. Targ. Esth. VIII, 10 אִתְקַדְּרוּ פיסת וכ׳ (ed. Lag. אתקדדו) the soles of their feet were arched (so that they, in running, touched the ground only with their toes).
קָדַר II
- cmp. Arab. ḳaḍar) [to be soiled,] to be dull black; trnsf. to be sad.
- to become, or be black. Y. Nidd. II, 50ᵇ top שחור מַקְדִּיר a dull black color, opp. מצחצח shining. Y. Sabb. X, 12ᶜ bot. היו פניו של ר׳ מַקְדִּירוֹת Rabbi’s face darkened (he grew sad). Gen. R. s. 12 הרשעים … ופניהם מקדירות וכ׳ in the future world the statures of the wicked shall be bent (their pride broken), and their faces shall be sad.
קְדַר ²
- Targ. Y. Deut. XXVIII, 15.—[Yalk. Job 901 וקדיר יתיה, read as Lev. R. s. 22: ומקים.]
- to become black. Targ. Cant. I, 5. Targ. Lam. V, 10. Targ. Koh. XII, 2.
קֵדָר
- (b. h.) pr. n. Kedar, name of a tribe of Arabs. Cant. R. to I, 5 (Ex. R. s. 23 ישמעאלים). Bets. 20ᵇ צאן ק׳ sheep from Kedar; a. e.—Denom. קִדְרִי; pl. קִדְרִיִּים. Taan. 5ᵇ ק׳ עובדין למים the Kedarites worship water.
קַדָּר
- (v. next w.)
- 1. (cmp. כַּדָּר) potter. Toh. VII, 1.—Pl. קַדָּרִים, קַדָּרִין. Num. R. s. 16, beg. (ref. to חרש, Josh. II, 1, v. חֶרֶס I) עשו עצמן ק׳ וכ׳ they pretended to be potters and called out, who wants pots?; Tanḥ. Sh’laḥ 1; Yalk. Josh. 7; [Ruth R. to I, 1 (s. 2), v. קַדָּרוּת]. Gen. R. s. 86 ק׳ בכפר וכ׳ (Ar. קרוזים) will you import potters to K’far Ḥanina? (Matt. K. קְדֵרִים pots); v. גַּזָּז. e.g. Joshua 2:1
קָדֵר
- (קָדֵר I) pot. Pes. 41ᵃ צלי ק׳ roasted through the heat of the pot. Meg. 7ᵇ, v. צָלִי; a. e.—Pl. קְדֵרִים, v. preced.
קְדַר ³
- Targ. O. Num. XI, 8 (h. text פרור). Targ. Mic. III, 3 (h. text קלחת); a. fr.—Targ. Joel II, 6; Targ. Jer. VIII, 21, a. e., v. אִכְרוּם.—Lev. R. s. 19, beg. יהבינון בקי׳ חדתא he put them (the young ravens) into a new pot. Esth. R. to III, 6 (prov.) נפלה כיפה ק׳ ווי לק׳ וכ׳ if the stone falls on the pot, woe to the pot; if the pot falls on the stone, woe to the pot; (Yalk. Esth. 1054 נפל קופה לקדרה וכ׳). Erub. 3ᵃ, a. e. ק׳ דשותפי, v. חַמִּים; a. fr.—Trnsf. intestines, rectum, bladder. Ber. 62ᵇ עד דרתחא קִדְרָךְ וכ׳ while thy pot is hot, empty it (do not delay discharge). Sabb. 33ᵃ נפישי קטילי קדר וכ׳ more numerous are those killed by the pot (by delay of discharge) than those killed by starvation.—[Num. R. s. 7; Lev. R. s. 18 לקדרא some ed., v. קַרְדָּא.]—Pl. קִדְרִין, קִדְרַיָּא, קִי׳, קְדֵירָתָא. Targ. II Chr. XXXV, 13. Targ. Y. Num. XXXI, 23.—Y. Ḥag. II, 77ᵈ bot.; Y. Snh. VI, 23ᶜ bot.; 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 14 distinct written forms H6937 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6937, 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
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 5 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 14 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 17 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
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.
