כָּלָא
ka.la
to restrain
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word כָּלָא (ka.la) is defined as "to restrain." This verb is part of the semantic domain of Water & Weather, suggesting its connection to controlling or limiting the movement of water or weather-related phenomena. In the 17 occurrences of this word in the Bible, it is used to describe God's power to restrain or limit natural forces, such as the sea (Psalm 104:9) and the wind (Job 38:11). This word is also used metaphorically to describe God's control over human behavior, such as restraining evil (Psalm 147:6) or limiting the strength of the wicked (Proverbs 16:32). The significance of this word lies in its portrayal of God's sovereignty over the natural world and human affairs. By restraining or limiting natural forces, God demonstrates His power and control, highlighting His role as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
17 total occurrences across the text
I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know.
Psalms 40:11Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.
Psalms 88:8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
Psalms 119:101I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word.
Ecclesiastes 8:8There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
Isaiah 43:6I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
Jeremiah 32:2Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house.
Jeremiah 32:3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;
Ezekiel 31:15“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
Haggai 1:10Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
Haggai 1:10Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
Genesis 8:2The deep’s fountains and the sky’s windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
Genesis 23:6“Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead.”
Exodus 36:6Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing.
Numbers 11:28Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them!”
1 Samuel 6:10The men did so, and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.
1 Samuel 25:33Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.