StrongerBible

qatseh

קָצֶה

HebrewH7097end, edge, ...

Appears 97 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 8:3Gen 19:4Gen 23:9Gen 47:2Gen 47:21 (2×)Exo 13:20Exo 16:35Exo 19:12Exo 26:5Exo 26:28 (2×)Exo 36:12Exo 36:33 (2×)Num 11:1Num 20:16Num 22:36Num 22:41Num 23:13Isa 2:7 (2×)Isa 56:11Jer 51:31Ezk 25:9Ezk 33:2Nam 2:9(10)Nam 3:3Nam 3:9
Root family
Word studykah-TSEHnoun

What qatseh means

the end, edge, or outer limit of something: the point in space where a thing stops

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This word marks where something runs out. Its core picture is a boundary point: the rim of a curtain, the tip of a staff, the outskirts of a camp, the far border of a land, or the distant horizon where the world seems to stop. The same noun covers all of these because they share one idea, the outermost point of whatever is in view.

From that single idea the word stretches across a wide range of scale. Up close it names the edge of an object you can hold or the border of a town you can walk to. At the largest scale it names the farthest reaches of the earth and sky, places too remote to visit, used to say "as far away as anything can be."

A third use grows out of the same picture in a surprising direction. To speak of something "from its end" came to mean taking it in from one extreme, and so the phrase can point to the whole of a group rather than just its rim, much as English "from end to end" means the entirety. Context, not the word itself, tells you whether a near edge, a far limit, or a whole sweep is meant.

Nuances

1athe edge or end of an object or place: the rim of a thing, the tip of a staff, the outskirts of a camp or town, the border of a territory
Gen 19:4Gen 23:9Exo 19:12Exo 26:5Exo 26:28 (2×)Exo 36:12Exo 36:33 (2×)Num 11:1Num 20:16Num 22:36Rut 3:71Sa 14:27
1bthe farthest limit: the remote ends of the earth, the heavens, or the sea, used for the most distant reaches imaginable
Deu 4:32Deu 13:7Deu 28:49Deu 28:64Deu 30:4Neh 1:9Psa 19:4Psa 19:6Psa 46:9Psa 61:2Psa 135:7Isa 5:26
1cthe whole of a group, reached by way of the phrase "from the end of": from among all, every last one
Gen 47:2Num 22:41Isa 56:11Ezk 33:2
1dthe endpoint of a stated span of time: after that number of days, months, or years has run its course
Gen 8:3Deu 14:28Jos 3:2Jos 9:162Sa 24:81Ki 9:102Ki 8:32Ki 18:10Ezk 3:16

What scholars say about qatseh

The standard lexica (HALOT, BDB, DCH) treat קָצֶה as a single noun for the end, edge, or extremity of a thing in space, spanning the near edge of an object, the border of a region, and the remote ends of the earth and sky. They distinguish it from קֵץ, which carries the temporal end. The idiomatic use in the phrase מִקְצֵה ("from the end of," hence "from among, the whole of") is noted as a recognized extension of the spatial sense.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. קָצֶהlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. קָצֶהlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. קָצֶהlexicon

All attested forms of קָצֶה

m s construct

קְצֵה

Gen 8:3, Gen 23:9, Gen 47:2, Gen 47:21, Exo 13:20, Exo 16:35, Exo 26:5, Exo 36:12

m s absolute

קָּצֶה, קֵצֶה

Gen 19:4, Exo 26:28, Exo 26:28, Exo 36:33, Exo 36:33, Jer 51:31, Isa 2:7, Isa 2:7

m s construct

קָצֵהוּ, קָּצֵהוּ

Gen 47:21, Exo 19:12, Num 23:13, Isa 56:11, Ezk 25:9

m s construct

קְצֵיהֶם

Ezk 33:2