kol · voice, sound

What it means

kol (קוֹל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “voice, sound”.

Voice or sound: what is heard, from a person, an animal or a thing (thunder, steps).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. What is heard when someone speaks or sings; also the voice of God.
2. What is heard: a noise, a sound or a din.
3. The roar of the sky that goes with a storm.
4. A notice given aloud so that everyone hears it.
5. Something taken lightly, as if it weighed nothing.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Voice or sound: what is heard, whether from a person, an animal or a thing.

• The voice of a person or of God Genesis 3:10Genesis 4:10
• A sound: footsteps, a horn Genesis 3:8Exodus 19:19
• In the plural, “thunders” Exodus 19:16
• “Listen to the voice” of someone: to obey him Genesis 22:18

How we translate it

“Voice” 355 times, “sound” 119, “noise” 7, “proclamation” 7, “thunder” 7. This edition translates “voice” or “sound” according to who or what produces it (Genesis 3:8: “the sound of YHWH Elohim walking about”). The expression with שָׁמַע is kept literally, “listened to my voice” (Genesis 22:18), and the context shows that it means obeying.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• voice ×355
• sound ×119
• noise ×7
• proclamation ×7
• thunder ×7
• thunders ×4
• voices ×2
• cry ×1
• lightness ×1
• public call ×1
• others ×2

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×25
• Exodus×31
• Leviticus×2
• Numbers×6
• Deuteronomy×38
• Joshua×7
• Judges×11
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×37
• 2 Samuel×12
• 1 Kings×16
• 2 Kings×11
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×10
• Ezra×8
• Nehemiah×3
• Job×21
• Psalms×59
• Proverbs×7
• Ecclesiastes×6
• Song of Songs×6
• Isaiah×36
• Jeremiah×82
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×32
• Daniel×8
• Joel×4
• Amos×3
• Jonah×2
• Micah×2
• Nahum×4
• Habakkuk×2
• Zephaniah×4
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×3

• Genesis 3:8

  And they heard the sound of YHWH Elohim walking about in the garden in the wind of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden.

• Genesis 3:10

  And he said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked; and I hid.”

• Genesis 3:17

  And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; with toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

• Genesis 4:10

  And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.

• Genesis 4:23

  And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my saying: for a man I have killed for wounding me, and a young man for striking me.

• Genesis 16:2

  Sarai said to Abram, “Look, YHWH has kept me from bearing children. Go in please to my slave woman; perhaps I will have children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

• Genesis 21:12

  But Elohim said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your eyes on account of the boy and on account of your slave woman. All that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac offspring will be named for you.

• Genesis 21:16

  Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Let me not see the death of the child.” And she sat opposite him, lifted up her voice, and wept.

• Genesis 21:17

  Elohim heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of Elohim called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for Elohim has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

• Genesis 22:18

  And through your offspring all the nations of the earth will bless themselves, because you listened to my voice.”

• Genesis 26:5

  because Abraham listened to my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions.”

• Genesis 27:8

  So now, my son, listen to my voice in what I command you.

• Genesis 27:13

  His mother said to him, “On me be your curse, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, get them for me.”

• Genesis 27:22

  Jacob came near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

• Genesis 27:38

  Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me too, my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

• Genesis 27:43

  So now, my son, listen to my voice: get up, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran,

• Genesis 29:11

  Jacob kissed Rachel, and he lifted up his voice and wept.

• Genesis 30:6

  Rachel said, “Elohim has vindicated me, and he has also heard my voice and given me a son.” That is why she called his name Dan.

• Genesis 39:14

  she called to the men of her household and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought us a Hebrew man to mock us. He came to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice.

• Genesis 39:15

  When he heard that I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”

• Genesis 39:18

  But when I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”

• Genesis 45:2

  He raised his voice in weeping, and the Egyptians heard, and the household of Pharaoh heard.

• Genesis 45:16

  The report was heard in the house of Pharaoh, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants.

• Exodus 3:18

  They will listen to your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of the Hebrews, has met with us. And now, please let us go a journey of three days into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHWH our Elohim.’

• Exodus 4:1

  Moses answered and said, “Look, they will not believe me and will not listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘YHWH did not appear to you.’”

• Exodus 4:8

  “And it will be that if they do not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

• Exodus 4:9

  And it will be that if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some of the water of the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

• Exodus 5:2

  But Pharaoh said, “Who is YHWH, that I should listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know YHWH, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”

• Exodus 9:23

  Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and YHWH sent thunder and hail, and fire went down to the earth; and YHWH rained hail on the land of Egypt.

• Exodus 9:28

  Pray to YHWH, for there has been enough of thunder of Elohim and hail; and I will let you go, and you will not have to stay any longer.”

• Exodus 9:29

  Moses said to him, “As soon as I go out of the city, I will spread out my palms to YHWH; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to YHWH.

• Exodus 9:33

  So Moses went out from Pharaoh, out of the city, and spread out his palms to YHWH; and the thunder and the hail ceased, and rain no longer poured on the earth.

• Exodus 9:34

  But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and made his heart insensitive, he and his servants.

• Exodus 15:26

  He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of YHWH your Elohim, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not put on you any of the diseases that I put on the Egyptians; for I am YHWH, your healer.”

• Exodus 18:19

  Now listen to my voice; I will advise you, and may Elohim be with you! You be the representative for the people before Elohim, and you bring the cases to Elohim.

• Exodus 18:24

  Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

• Exodus 19:5

  And now, if you will listen carefully to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special treasure out of all the peoples; for all the earth is mine;

• Exodus 19:16

  On the third day, when morning came, there were thunders and lightnings and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a horn, very loud; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.

• Exodus 19:19

  As the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses would speak, and Elohim would answer him with a voice.

• Exodus 20:18

  All the people were seeing the thunders and the flames and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off.

And 466 more times.