StrongerBible

qalon

קָלוֹן

HebrewH7036shame, disgrace, ...

Appears 17 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Job 10:15Psa 83:16(17)Pro 3:35Pro 6:33Pro 9:7Pro 11:2Pro 12:16Pro 13:18Pro 18:3Pro 22:10Isa 22:18Jer 13:26Jer 46:12Hos 4:7Hos 4:18Nam 3:5
Root family
Word studykah-LOHNnoun

What qalon means

disgrace: the public loss of honor and good standing, the opposite of glory

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

In the world of the Bible, honor and shame were public currency. A person's worth was measured by how they stood in the eyes of the community, and this word names the collapse of that standing: to be held cheap, brought low, stripped of respect in front of others. It is the mirror image of "weight" or "glory" (כָּבוֹד), and the two are set against each other again and again (Proverbs 3:35; Hosea 4:7).

The books of wisdom tie disgrace to folly and pride. It is what the mocker, the lazy, and the arrogant earn for themselves (Proverbs 11:2; 13:18; 18:3). The prophets use it for national humiliation: a defeated nation or a proud city, often pictured as a woman shamed in public, wears this disgrace before watching peoples (Hosea 4:7; Habakkuk 2:16; Jeremiah 46:12).

In Jeremiah and Nahum the disgrace turns concrete and visible. A woman's skirts are thrown up over her face so that her shame is exposed to onlookers. Here the word leans toward the humiliation of public nakedness, disgrace made into a spectacle rather than felt in private.

Nuances

1a
Job 10:15Psa 83:16(17)Pro 3:35Pro 6:33Pro 9:7Pro 11:2Pro 12:16Pro 13:18Pro 18:3Pro 22:10Hos 4:7Hos 4:18
1bthe disgrace of being publicly stripped and exposed: humiliation made a spectacle before onlookers
Jer 13:26Nam 3:5

What scholars say about qalon

קָלוֹן derives from the root קלה, "to be light, of little account, dishonored," and denotes the objective condition of dishonor, the antithesis of כָּבוֹד ("weight, honor"). BDB and HALOT gloss it "ignominy, disgrace, dishonour." It clusters in wisdom and prophetic literature: Proverbs pairs it with folly, pride, and the mocker (3:35; 11:2; 13:18; 18:3), while the prophets apply it to national humiliation (Hosea 4:7; Habakkuk 2:16; Jeremiah 46:12). In Jeremiah 13:26 and Nahum 3:5 it appears in the imagery of a woman's skirts lifted to expose her, where several lexicographers recognize a concrete, near-euphemistic sense of shameful nakedness alongside the abstract "disgrace." The term is regularly treated within the biblical framework of honor and shame.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. קָלוֹןlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. קָלוֹןlexicon
  • TWOT, s.v. קלה (קָלוֹן)dictionary
  • DCH, s.v. קָלוֹןlexicon

All attested forms of קָלוֹן

m s absolute

קָלוֹן

Job 10:15, Psa 83:16, Pro 3:35, Pro 6:33, Pro 9:7, Pro 11:2, Pro 12:16, Pro 13:18

m s construct

קְלוֹנֵךְ

Jer 13:26, Jer 46:12, Nam 3:5

m s construct

קְלוֹן

Isa 22:18