To restrain
כָּלָאStrong’s H3607kala (ka-la)
Appears in 16 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Kala is the Hebrew word usually translated “it was restrained”, “shut up” and “withhold”. It appears in 16 verses of the Old Testament.
“The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;”
Meaning
- To restrict, restrain, withhold, shut up, keep back, refrain, forbid(Qal) · (Niphal) to be restrained · (Piel) to finish
How it's translated
- and it was restrained 2
- shut up 2
- he will withhold 1
- restrain them 1
- they shut up 1
- you have restrained me 1
- i restrain 1
- you will withhold 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 4
- Genesis 2
- 1 Samuel 2
- Jeremiah 2
- Exodus 1
- Numbers 1
10 books in all.
Related words
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 23:6Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
- Exodus 36:6And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
- Numbers 11:28And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
- 1 Samuel 6:10And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:
- 1 Samuel 25:33And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
- Psalms 40:9I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
Hebrew dictionary
כָּלָא kala · to restrain
1) to restrict, restrain, withhold, shut up, keep back, refrain, forbid 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to shut up 1a2) to restrain 1a3) to withhold 1b) (Niphal) to be restrained 1c) (Piel) to finish
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “restrain” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
RESTRA'IN, verb transitive
[Latin restringo; re and stringo, to strain. The letter g appears from the participle to be casual; stringo, for strigo. Hence strictus, strict, stricture. If the two letters st are removed, the word rigo coincides exactly, in primary sense, with Latin rego, rectus, right, and the root of reach, stretch, straight.]
- To hold back; to check; to hold from action, proceeding or advancing, either by physical or moral force, or by an interposing obstacle.
- To repress; to keep in awe; as, to restrain offenders.
- To suppress; to hinder or repress; as, to restrain excess.
- To abridge; to hinder from unlimited enjoyment; as, to restrain one of his pleasure or of his liberty.
All definitions
- To limit; to confine.
- To withhold; to forbear.“Thou restrainest prayer before God” Job 15:4
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.