קָבַל
qa.val
to receive
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word קָבַל (Qabal): To Receive The Hebrew verb קָבַל carries the fundamental meaning "to receive," appearing thirteen times throughout the biblical text. This relatively modest frequency suggests it functioned as a straightforward term for the act of taking in or accepting something offered, without the specialized theological weight that some biblical terms carry. The consistent translation as "to receive" across its thirteen occurrences indicates a stable semantic field. Unlike high-frequency verbs that develop multiple nuanced meanings, קָבַל appears to maintain a direct sense of reception—the basic transaction of taking something that is given or presented. This stability in meaning across scattered references suggests the word served a practical communicative function rather than bearing metaphorical or symbolic importance. For biblical interpretation, this word's modesty of frequency and simplicity of meaning make it useful primarily in narrative or transactional contexts where straightforward reception of something concrete is being described. Its limited role in the biblical corpus means that understanding the broader theological or narrative context around its usage would be more important than analyzing the word's semantic depth in isolation.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
13 total occurrences across the text
The priests went into the inner part of Yahweh’s house to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in Yahweh’s temple into the court of Yahweh’s house. The Levites took it from there to carry it out to the brook Kidron.
2 Chronicles 29:22So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
Ezra 8:30So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.
Esther 4:4Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her this, and the queen was exceedingly grieved. She sent clothing to Mordecai, to replace his sackcloth; but he didn’t receive it.
Esther 9:23The Jews accepted the custom that they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them;
Esther 9:27the Jews established and imposed on themselves, and on their descendants, and on all those who joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail that they would keep these two days according to what was written, and according to its appointed time, every year;
Job 2:10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
Job 2:10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
Proverbs 19:20Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.
Exodus 26:5You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling. The loops shall be opposite one another.
Exodus 36:12He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite to one another.
1 Chronicles 12:18Then the Spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said, “We are yours, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse. Peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers; for your God helps you.” Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.
1 Chronicles 21:11So Gad came to David, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Take your choice: