kana · be jealous, be zealous

What it means

kana (קָנָא) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “be jealous, be zealous”.

Be jealous or envious; in other passages, be zealous for something.

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 feel bitterness because another has what one would like.
2. To burn with zeal for something, as YHWH for his people.
3. To make someone full of jealousy by giving oneself to another.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• jealous ×8
• envy ×5
• I have been very jealous ×4
• I have been jealous ×3
• envied ×3
• he is jealous ×3
• They provoked him to jealousy ×2
• I was envious ×1
• be envious ×1
• have provoked me to jealousy ×1
• others ×2

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Numbers×6
• Deuteronomy×3
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×5
• Psalms×4
• Proverbs×4
• Isaiah×1
• Ezekiel×2
• Joel×1
• Zechariah×3

• Genesis 26:14

  He had flocks and herds and many servants, and the Philistines envied him.

• Genesis 30:1

  Rachel saw that she had not borne children to Jacob, and Rachel envied her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”

• Genesis 37:11

  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

• Numbers 5:14

  and a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, and she has made herself unclean; or a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not made herself unclean,

• Numbers 5:30

  or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before YHWH, and the priest shall carry out for her all this instruction.

• Numbers 11:29

  But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? If only all the people of YHWH were prophets, that YHWH would put his spirit on them!”

• 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.

• Numbers 25:13

  It will be for him and for his offspring after him a covenant of priesthood forever, because he was jealous for his Elohim and made expiation for the sons of Israel.”

• Deuteronomy 32:16

  They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger.

• Deuteronomy 32:21

  They have provoked me to jealousy with what is not El; they have provoked me to anger with their worthless idols. So I will provoke them to jealousy with what is not a people; with a foolish nation I will provoke them to anger.

• 2 Samuel 21:2

  The king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel; they were rather of the remnant of the Amorite; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, but Saul sought to strike them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.)

• 1 Kings 14:22

  Judah did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH, and they provoked him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with their sins that they sinned.

• 1 Kings 19:10

  He said, “I have been very jealous for YHWH, Elohim Tsevaot, for the sons of Israel have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

• 1 Kings 19:14

  He said, “I have been very jealous for YHWH, Elohim Tsevaot, for the sons of Israel have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword; and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

• Psalms 37:1

  Of David. Do not get heated because of evildoers; do not be envious of those who do injustice.

• Psalms 73:3

  For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the well-being of the wicked.

• Psalms 78:58

  And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and with their carved images they made him jealous.

• Psalms 106:16

  And they were jealous of Moses in the camp, of Aaron, the holy one of YHWH.

• Proverbs 3:31

  Do not envy a man of violence, and do not choose any of his ways;

• Proverbs 23:17

  Do not let your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of YHWH all day long;

• Proverbs 24:1

  Do not envy evil men, and do not desire to be with them;

• Proverbs 24:19

  Do not fret because of evildoers; do not envy the wicked;

• Isaiah 11:13

  And the envy of Ephraim will depart, and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off; Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.

• Ezekiel 31:9

  Beautiful I made it in the abundance of its branches, and all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of Elohim.’

• Ezekiel 39:25

  Therefore, thus says Adonai YHWH: Now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and I will have compassion on all the house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.

• Joel 2:18

  Then YHWH was jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

• Zechariah 1:14

  And the angel who talked with me said to me, “Call out, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH Tsevaot: I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great jealousy.

• Zechariah 8:2

  “Thus says YHWH Tsevaot: I have been jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and with great fury I have been jealous for her.

And 5 more times.