StrongerBible

kalah

כָּלָה

HebrewH3617full end, consumption, ...

Appears 21 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 18:21Exo 11:12Ch 12:12Neh 9:31Isa 10:23Isa 28:22Jer 4:27Jer 5:10Jer 5:18Jer 30:11 (2×)Jer 46:28
Word studykah-LAHnoun

What kalah means

a full end: something brought all the way to its finish, most often the complete destruction of a people or place.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This word names the point where something is carried all the way through to its finish. In the great majority of its appearances that finish is destruction: a nation, city, or land brought to a complete end and wiped out entirely. Its most common form is a fixed phrase, "to make a full end," which the prophets use again and again for total ruin.

Because the core idea is completeness, the same word can also work as a plain measure of degree. In a couple of places it simply means "altogether" or "to the full," describing an action done completely rather than a nation destroyed. Both uses share one thing: something taken all the way, with nothing left over.

A striking pattern runs through the judgment oracles. Again and again God declares that he will not make a full end. Even as he threatens ruin, he draws a line short of total annihilation for his own people, so the word often marks the limit of judgment rather than its full reach.

It is the noun paired with the ordinary verb (כָּלָה) meaning "to be finished" or "to be used up." Where that verb describes the action of coming to an end, this word names the end itself: the finished, exhausted result.

Nuances

1acomplete destruction: a full end brought on a people, city, or land, wiping it out entirely.
2Ch 12:12Neh 9:31Isa 10:23Isa 28:22Jer 4:27Jer 5:10Jer 5:18Jer 30:11 (2×)Jer 46:28Ezk 11:13Ezk 13:13Ezk 20:17
1bcompletely, altogether, to the full: an action carried out to its full extent.
TranslatabilityApproximate
Gen 18:21Exo 11:1

What scholars say about kalah

The noun derives from the verb כלה "to be complete, finished, or consumed" (BDB, HALOT, DCH). The standard lexicons treat כָּלָה as a single noun spanning "completion" and, dominantly, "complete destruction, annihilation." Its characteristic use is the idiom עשׂה כלה "to make a full end," concentrated in the prophetic judgment oracles (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nahum, Zephaniah), together with the fixed formula כָלָה וְנֶחֱרָצָה "a full end, and that decreed" (Isaiah 10:23; 28:22; Daniel 9:27), which the Greek Old Testament renders with συντέλεια. TWOT and NIDOTTE note the theologically weighted pattern in Jeremiah, where the phrase recurs in the negative (Jeremiah 4:27; 5:18; 30:11; 46:28): the LORD promises not to make a full end of Israel, so the term marks the limit set on judgment. The two adverbial uses (Genesis 18:21; Exodus 11:1) are understood as the noun functioning as a measure of degree, "altogether, to the full."

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. כלהlexicon
  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. כלהlexicon
  • DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. כלהlexicon
  • Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), s.v. כלהdictionary
  • New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE), s.v. כלהdictionary

All attested forms of כָּלָה

f s absolute

כָּלָה

Gen 18:21, Exo 11:1, 2Ch 12:12, Neh 9:31, Isa 10:23, Isa 28:22, Jer 4:27, Jer 5:10