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כּוּל kûwl — properly, to keep in

pronounced kool · Strong's H3557 · 37 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible · 5 stems: Pilpel, Hiph'il, Pi'el, Polpal, Qal (Pa'al)

Translated in the KJV as (be able to, can) abide, bear, comprehend, contain, feed, forbearing, guide, hold, nourish, be present, make provision.

a primitive root; properly, to keep in; hence, to measure; figuratively, to maintain (in various senses).

kûwl in each stem

Pilpel 23×

Intensive · active — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it

Imperfect (yiqtol) 8Infinitive construct 5Perfect (qatal) 4Wayyiqtol 3Sequential perfect (weqatal) 2Participle (active) 1

וְכִלְכַּלְתִּ֤י Gen 45:11 Sequential perfect (weqatal), 1st person common singular

And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. (KJV)

וַיְכַלְכֵּ֤ל Gen 47:12 Wayyiqtol, 3rd person masculine singular

And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families. (KJV)

אֲכַלְכֵּ֥ל Gen 50:21 Imperfect (yiqtol), 1st person common singular

Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. (KJV)

Hiph'il 11×

Causative · active — causing someone or something to do the action; the subject does it

Imperfect (yiqtol) 6Infinitive construct 5

יָכִֽיל 1Kgs 7:26 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths. (KJV)

יָכִ֣יל 1Kgs 7:38 Imperfect (yiqtol), 3rd person masculine singular

Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver. (KJV)

מֵֽהָכִיל֙ 1Kgs 8:64 Infinitive construct

The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. (KJV)

Pi'el

Intensive · active — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject does it

Perfect (qatal) 1

וְכִלְכְּלָ֖ם 1Kgs 18:4 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) (KJV)

Polpal

Intensive · passive — the action intensified, repeated or brought about; the subject has it done to them

Perfect (qatal) 1

וְכָלְכְּל֔וּ 1Kgs 20:27 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person common plural

And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country. (KJV)

Qal (Pa'al)

Simple · active — the plain action; the subject does it

Perfect (qatal) 1

וְכָ֥ל Isa 40:12 Perfect (qatal), 3rd person masculine singular

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (KJV)

What the stems mean

A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›

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In the app, tap any Hebrew verb while reading: its root, stem and form are named, the letters of the word itself are coloured to show which is which, and the stem's meaning is put in plain English. kûwl in the lexicon ›

Morphology from OpenScriptures MorphHB (CC BY 4.0); definitions from Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (public domain); text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

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