קַנָּא
jealous
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H7067 appears in the Book of Exodus — 2 distinct verses. 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.
Exodus
- Exodus 20:5 קַנָּ֔א adj Adjective ms you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Exodus 34:14 קַנָּ֣א קַנָּ֖א adj Adjective ms adj Adjective ms for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
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.
קנא (qannâʼ) is a Hebrew adjective most often rendered “jealous.” With only 5 verses it sits in the long tail of Hebrew Bible vocabulary. It clusters heavily in Deuteronomy, which alone accounts for 60% of its uses. Debuting at Exodus 20:5, it then recurs through the corpus. From the same root come קנא, קנאה and קנוא. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7067 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 →
- 5
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 5 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #3,040
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 3,040 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 5 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Deuteronomy 3 verses 60%
- Exodus 2 verses 40%
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 5 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 5 verses · 100%
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: Am a jealous 2×, Is a jealous 2×
- American Standard Version: Am a jealous 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Jealous 3×, Am a jealous 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Jealous 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7067 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H7067 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 H7067 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears 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 H7067 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 1 sense BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- jealous (only of God)
Word origin
adj. jealous;—only of God: אֵל קַנָּא Ex 20:5 (E) = Dt 5:9 (as punishing those who hate him), Ex 34:14 (J); Dt 4:24; 6:15 (demanding exclusive service); קַנָּא שְׁמוֹ Ex 34:14 (J).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from קנא (qânâʼ) (H7065) — to envy.
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.
קָנָא
- , Pi. קִנֵּא, v. קני I.
קְנָא
- , Pa. קַנֵּי, v. קְנֵי I.
קְנֵא
- to buy, v. קְנֵי II.
קַנָּא
- , v. קַנַּאי
קני
- (cmp. Arab. ḳana) to be hot.
- (b. h.)
- 1. to be jealous; to envy. Lam. R. introd. (R. Joḥ. 1) לא קִנֵּאתִי בה I was not jealous of her; מפני מה קִנֵּאתָ לע"ז וכ׳ why art thou jealous of an idol in which there is no reality?; a. e.—Esp. ק׳ לאשתו to suspect one’s wife of unbecoming conduct; to accuse of faithlessness; to warn one’s wife. Sot. I, 1 המְקַנֵּא … מקנא לה על פי שנים he who suspects his wife … must bring charges against her based on a warning given in the presence of two witnesses. Ib. 2 כיצד מקנא לה אומר לה בפני שנים אל תדברי וכ׳ how must he warn her? If he says before two witnesses, do not speak (associate) with that man, and she does so, she is still permitted to him for marital life &c. Tosef. ib. I, 1 [read:] המקנא לאשתו מקנא על פי עד אחד וכ׳ (ed. Zuck. המְקַנֶּה, Var. מקנה) he who wants to proceed against his wife, must bring charges based on a statement of warning by one witness or on his own statement; Sot. 2ᵇ. Ib. 2ᵃ אסור לקַנְּאוֹת it is forbidden to warn one’s wife (in the presence of witnesses). Ib. 3ᵃ מותר לק׳ it is permitted &c. M. Kat. 18ᵇ (ref. to Ps. CVI, 16) שכל … קי׳ לאשתו ממשה every one of them warned his wife in jealousy of Moses. Num. R. s. 9 ע"י איש הוא מקנה אותה וכ׳ he may bring charges on the ground of suspicious conduct towards a man (human being) but not &c. Ib. בית רין מְקַנְּאִין להם וכ׳ (some ed. מְקַנִּין) the court takes proceedings in their (the husbands’) behalf &c.; a. fr. e.g. Psalms 106:16
- 2. to arouse jealousy; to provoke. Meg. 15ᵇ קִנְּאַתּוּ במלך וכ׳ she (by inviting Haman) aroused against him the jealousy of the king and the jealousy of the (other) princes. Num. R. l. c. שהיא מְקַנְּאָה להקב"ה וכ׳ for she provokes the Lord and her husband; a. e.
- to be jealous; to be incensed. Men. 109ᵇ נ׳ בו … בשמעי אחיו Onias was jealous of his brother Shimei. Snh. 105ᵇ בכל אדם מִתְקַנֵּא וכ׳ a man is envious of all except his son and his pupil. Meg. 13ᵃ מִתְקַנְּאָה, v. יָרֵךְ. Ab. Zar. 54ᵇ מפני מה מתקנא בעובדיה וכ׳ why is he jealous of (incensed against) those who worship it (the idol), and is not jealous of (takes no revenge on) itself? Meg. 19ᵃ מה … שנ׳ בכל וכ׳ what reason had Haman to take revenge on all the Jews?; a. fr.
קְנֵי
- ch., v. infra.
- 1. to be zealous for; to be jealous; to suspect of unfaithfulness. Targ. Num. XI, 29. Ib. XXV, 11. Targ. Gen. XXX, 1. Targ. Num. V, 14; a. fr.
- 2. to make jealous. Targ. II Esth. II, 19 קַנְּאָהּ וכ׳ (ed. קָנְאָה, ed. Vien. קָנְאָתָּהּ) make her jealous by marrying other wives.
- 3. to warn one’s wife. Sot. 2ᵇ זמנין דלא ק׳ ואמר קַנָּאִי it may happen that he did not warn her and yet he may declare, I did warn her. Ib. וכ"ע ידעי דק׳ לה and all will know that he did warn her; a. fr.
- to make jealous; to provoke. Targ. Ps. LXXVIII, 58. Targ. I Sam. I, 6, v. אַקְנָיוּתָא. Targ. Deut. XXXII, 16 (Y. I קְנוֹן, read: קַנּוֹן). Ib. 21; a. e.
- to be jealous, incensed. Meg. 16ᵃ אי׳ בה … א׳ בי וכ׳ he (Haman) had a grudge against Vashti and put her to death, and now he has a grudge against me &c. Ib. 13ᵃ דמִיקְּנֵי ביה המן against whom Haman was enraged. Ib. 19ᵃ מה … דאי׳ וכ׳ what reason had Mordecai to be hostile to Haman?; a. e.
קְנֵי ²
- Targ. Gen. XXXI, 18. Targ. Y. ib. XLVII, 23; a. fr.—Keth. 82ᵇ דקְנָאִי ודקָנִינָא which I have acquired (own), and which I may acquire in the future. B. Bath. 44ᵇ דאִיקְנֵי קנה וכ׳ if the document reads ‘that which I may obtain’ (shall be seizable for my debt), and be bought and sold again …, it cannot be seized; ib. 157ᵃ. Ib. 168ᵃ אסמכתא קַנְיָא, v. אַסְמַכְתָּא. B. Mets. 66ᵇ וא"ל קְנִי קְנֵי and he said to him, take possession (of the collateral, I shall not redeem it), he has obtained it. Ib. כל דְּאִי לא קָנֵי an obligation with an ‘if’ (conditional forfeiture) gives no title; a. v. fr.—Ḥull. 77ᵃ דקני, דקנא, דקנה, v. רִירָא.
- 1. to make one a bondman. Targ. Zech. XIII, 5.
- 2. to give possession, sell. Targ. II Chr. XXI, 3.—B. Bath. 44ᵇ אי א׳ … אגב וכ׳ if he gave him possession of movable chattel by dint of immovables jointly sold (v. אַגַּב) &c. B. Mets. 72ᵃ אַקְנְיֵיה לבנו וכ׳ he signed it over to his minor son. Kidd. 7ᵃ מַקְנְיָא נפשה she may give possession of herself (become his wife); a. fr.
- to be obtained, acquired. B. Bath. 77ᵃ מִיקְּנִין (Rashb. מִיקְּנוּ), v. מִילָּא II.
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 5 distinct written forms H7067 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| קַנָּ֔א | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Deuteronomy 5:9 | 2 |
| קַנָּ֖א | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 34:14 | 1 |
| קַנָּ֛א | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Deuteronomy 6:15 | 1 |
| קַנָּ֣א | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 34:14 | 1 |
| קַנָּֽא | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Deuteronomy 4:24 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7067, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 5 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 5 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.
