qashah (to harden)

Meaning

To be hard, be severe, be fierce, be harsh(Qal) · (Niphal) · (Piel) to have severe labour (of women) · (Hiphil)

How it's translated

and they stiffened 5
it is hard 2
it will be hard 2
he made hard 2
you harden 2
and she had difficulties 1
when had difficulties she 1
i will make stubborn 1

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most

Deuteronomy 4
Genesis 3
2 Chronicles 3
Nehemiah 3
Jeremiah 3
Exodus 2

14 books in all.

Related words

Explore in Scripture

Genesis 35:17And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
Genesis 49:7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
Exodus 7:3And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 13:15And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.
Deuteronomy 1:17Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

All 28 verses, by book

Genesis 3: 35:16 35:17 49:7
Exodus 2: 7:3 13:15
Deuteronomy 4: 1:17 2:30 10:16 15:18
1 Samuel 1: 5:7
2 Samuel 1: 19:43
1 Kings 1: 12:4
2 Kings 2: 2:10 17:14
2 Chronicles 3: 10:4 30:8 36:13
Nehemiah 3: 9:16 9:17 9:29
Job 1: 9:4
Psalms 1: 95:8
Proverbs 2: 28:14 29:1
Isaiah 1: 8:21
Jeremiah 3: 7:26 17:23 19:15

Hebrew dictionary

קָשָׁה qashah · to harden

1) to be hard, be severe, be fierce, be harsh 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to be hard, be difficult 1a2) to be hard, be severe 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be ill-treated 1b2) to be hard pressed 1c) (Piel) to have severe labour (of women) 1d) (Hiphil) 1d1) to make difficult, make difficulty 1d2) to make severe, make burdensome 1d3) to make hard, make stiff, make stubborn 1d3a) of obstinacy (fig) 1d4) to show stubbornness

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “harden” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

H'ARDEN, verb transitive

h'ardn. To make hard or more hard; to make firm or compact; to indurate; as, to harden iron or steel; to harden clay.

To confirm in effrontery; to make impudent; as, to harden the face.
To make obstinate, unyielding or refractory; as, to harden the neck. Jeremiah 19:15
To confirm in wickedness, opposition or enmity; to make obdurate.“Why then do ye harden your hearts, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened their hearts?” 1 Samuel 6:6
To make insensible or unfeeling; as, to harden one against impressions of pity or tenderness.

All definitions and other forms of “harden”

To make firm; to endure with constancy.“I would harden myself in sorrow” Job 6:10
To inure; to render firm or less liable to injury, by exposure or use; as, to harden to a climate or to labor.

H'ARDEN, verb intransitive

h'ardn. To become hard or more hard; to acquire solidity or more compactness. Mortar hardens by drying.

To become unfeeling.
To become inured.
To indurate, as flesh.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.