kala · finish, consume

What it means

kala (כָּלָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “finish, consume”.

Finish, complete something; come to an end. Also put an end to something, consume it, destroy it.

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. To bring a work or a matter through to its end.
2. To be used up little by little until nothing is left.
3. To put an end to something, destroy it.
4. For evil to be already decided against someone.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Come to an end: finish or complete something; be used up, be consumed. BDB: to end, both intransitively (cease, be finished, perish) and transitively (complete, prepare, consume).

• To finish a work Genesis 2:2
• To finish speaking Genesis 18:33Genesis 49:33
• To faint, to waste away with longing Psalms 84:2Psalms 119:82
• A time coming to an end: “the summer is ended” Jeremiah 8:20
• Evil “decided” against someone 1 Samuel 20:7

How we translate it

“Finished” 83 times, “consumed” 15, “consume” 13, “end” 13, “finish” 10. It is translated “consume” when it means making an end of something, and “finish” when it is completing a work; with longing, “faint” or “waste away”; in 1 Samuel 20 and 25, of an evil already resolved on against someone, “is decided”.

How it is translated

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

• finished ×83
• consumed ×15
• consume ×13
• end ×13
• finish ×10
• are consumed ×6
• completed ×6
• spend ×6
• spent ×6
• make an end ×5
• others ×42

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×17
• Exodus×10
• Leviticus×5
• Numbers×7
• Deuteronomy×7
• Joshua×5
• Judges×2
• Ruth×4
• 1 Samuel×10
• 2 Samuel×6
• 1 Kings×12
• 2 Kings×3
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×17
• Ezra×4
• Nehemiah×1
• Esther×1
• Job×11
• Psalms×23
• Proverbs×3
• Isaiah×12
• Jeremiah×13
• Lamentations×5
• Ezekiel×16
• Daniel×4
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 2:1

  So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their army.

• Genesis 2:2

  And on the seventh day Elohim finished his work that he had done, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work that he had done.

• Genesis 6:16

  An opening you shall make for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from above; and the door of the ark you shall put in its side; with lower, second, and third decks you shall make it.

• Genesis 17:22

  When he finished speaking with him, Elohim went up from Abraham.

• Genesis 18:33

  YHWH went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

• Genesis 21:15

  When the water in the skin was used up, she threw the child under one of the bushes.

• Genesis 24:15

  It happened, before he had finished speaking, that, look, Rebekah was coming out, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her jar on her shoulder.

• Genesis 24:19

  When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

• Genesis 24:22

  When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring of half a shekel in weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels of gold in weight,

• Genesis 24:45

  Before I had finished speaking in my heart, look, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

• Genesis 27:30

  As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

• Genesis 41:30

  But after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will consume the land.

• Genesis 41:53

  The seven years of abundance that had been in the land of Egypt came to an end,

• Genesis 43:2

  When they had finished eating the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”

• Genesis 44:12

  He searched, beginning with the oldest and finishing with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s bag.

• Genesis 49:33

  When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

• Exodus 5:13

  The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Complete your work, each day’s task on its day, just as when there was straw.”

• Exodus 5:14

  And the supervisors of the sons of Israel, whom the taskmasters of Pharaoh had set over them, were beaten, being told, “Why have you not completed your quota of making bricks as before, both yesterday and today?”

• Exodus 31:18

  And he gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.

• Exodus 32:10

  Now let me alone, so that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them; and I will make you into a great nation.”

• Exodus 32:12

  Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the ground’? Turn from the heat of your anger and relent concerning the evil planned against your people.

• Exodus 33:3

  Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stubborn people, lest I consume you on the way.”

• Exodus 33:5

  And YHWH said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stubborn people. If for one moment I went up in your midst, I would consume you. So now, take off your ornaments from you, and I will know what I will do with you.’”

• Exodus 34:33

  And when Moses finished speaking with them, he put on his face a veil.

• Exodus 39:32

  So all the labor of the dwelling, the tent of meeting, was finished; and the sons of Israel did according to all that YHWH had commanded Moses; so they did.

• Exodus 40:33

  And he set up the courtyard all around the dwelling and the altar, and put the screen of the gate of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.

• Leviticus 16:20

  And when he has finished making expiation for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.

• Leviticus 19:9

  And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not finish reaping the edge of your field, and the gleanings of your harvest you shall not gather.

• Leviticus 23:22

  And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not finish reaping the edge of your field, and the gleanings of your harvest you shall not gather; for the poor and for the resident alien you shall leave them. I am YHWH your Elohim.”

• Leviticus 26:16

  then I will do this to you: I will appoint over you terror, wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and drain the life; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.

• Leviticus 26:44

  Yet even for all this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them and I will not loathe them so as to destroy them completely and break my covenant with them; for I am YHWH their Elohim.

• Numbers 4:15

  And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the Holy Place and all the utensils of the Holy Place, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the load of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting.

• Numbers 7:1

  On the day Moses finished setting up the dwelling, he anointed it and consecrated it and all its utensils, and the altar and all its utensils; he anointed them and consecrated them.

• Numbers 16:21

  “Separate yourselves from the midst of this community, and I will consume them in an instant.”

• Numbers 16:31

  And it happened, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them split open.

• Numbers 16:45

  “Get away from the midst of this community, and I will consume them in an instant.” And they fell on their faces.

• Numbers 17:10

  And YHWH said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, so that you put an end to their grumblings against me, and they will not die.”

• Numbers 25:11

  “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the sons of Israel when he was jealous with my jealousy among them, and I did not make an end of the sons of Israel in my jealousy.

• Deuteronomy 7:22

  YHWH your Elohim will clear away these nations from before you little by little; you will not be able to finish them off quickly, lest the animals of the field multiply against you.

• Deuteronomy 20:9

  And when the supervisors have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

And 165 more times.