kava · gather; wait for

What it means

kava (קָוָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “gather; wait for”.

Gather together, collect in one place (said of the waters). In other passages the same verb means "wait for" with hope.

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 long and look for, above all YHWH.
2. To gather, like the waters.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To wait with expectation, to wait for someone or something. BDB gives two verbs written the same way: to wait, and to be gathered, which is the one in Genesis 1:9, said of the waters. From the same root is תִּקְוָה, ‘hope’.

• Waiting for YHWH Psalms 27:14Psalms 40:1Isaiah 40:31
• “For your salvation I wait” Genesis 49:18Psalms 130:5
• Waiting for something that does not come Isaiah 5:7Job 30:26Jeremiah 8:15
• Gathering, assembling Genesis 1:9Jeremiah 3:17

How we translate it

“Wait” in its forms (“wait” 21 times, “I have waited”, “we have waited”), and “hope” when it is a hope that is disappointed (“We hoped for peace”, Jeremiah 8:15; Job 30:26). In Psalm 130:5 it reads “I have waited for YHWH”, and then, with another Hebrew verb, “for his word I have awaited”. In Psalm 40:1 the doubled verb is rendered “I waited and waited”. When the sense is gathering, “be gathered” (Genesis 1:9) or “will gather” (Jeremiah 3:17).

How it is translated

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

• wait ×21
• we have waited ×4
• I have waited ×3
• We hoped ×3
• I waited and waited ×2
• I waited for ×2
• he waited ×2
• hoped ×2
• I hope for ×1
• I will hope ×1
• others ×8

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Job×5
• Psalms×17
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×15
• Jeremiah×5
• Lamentations×2
• Hosea×1
• Micah×1

• Genesis 1:9

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.

• Genesis 49:18

  For your salvation I wait, YHWH.

• Job 3:9

  Let the stars of its twilight be dark; let it hope for light and there be none, and may it not see the eyelids of the dawn,

• Job 6:19

  The caravans of Tema looked; the companies of Sheba hoped for them.

• Job 7:2

  Like a slave who pants for the shade, and like a hired worker who hopes for his wages,

• Job 17:13

  If I hope for Sheol as my house, in darkness I spread out my bed;

• Job 30:26

  For I hoped for good, and evil came; and I waited for light, and gloom came.

• Psalms 25:3

  Also all who wait for you will not be ashamed; they will be ashamed who act treacherously without cause.

• Psalms 25:5

  Direct me in your truth and teach me, for you are the Elohim of my salvation; for you I have waited all the day.

• Psalms 25:21

  May integrity and uprightness guard me, for I have waited for you.

• Psalms 27:14

  Wait for YHWH; be strong, and let your heart take courage; and wait for YHWH.

• Psalms 37:9

  For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for YHWH, they will possess the land.

• Psalms 37:34

  Wait for YHWH and keep his way, and he will exalt you to possess the land; when the wicked are cut off you will see it.

• Psalms 39:7

  And now, what have I waited for, Adonai? My expectation is in you.

• Psalms 40:1

  For the director. Of David. A psalm. I waited and waited for YHWH, and he inclined to me and heard my cry for help.

• Psalms 52:9

  I will give you thanks forever, for you have acted, and I will wait for your name, for it is good, before your faithful ones.

• Psalms 56:6

  They gather together, they lurk; they watch my heels, as they wait for my soul.

• Psalms 69:6

  Let not those who wait for you be ashamed because of me, Adonai YHWH Tsevaot; let not those who seek you be humiliated because of me, Elohim of Israel.

• Psalms 69:20

  Reproach has broken my heart, and I am sick; I waited for someone to grieve with me, but there was none, and for comforters, but I did not find any.

• Psalms 119:95

  The wicked have waited for me to destroy me; your testimonies I consider.

• Psalms 130:5

  I have waited for YHWH; my soul has waited, and for his word I have awaited.

• Proverbs 20:22

  Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for YHWH, and he will save you.

• Isaiah 5:2

  He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a tower in its midst and also hewed out a winepress in it; and he waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced sour grapes.

• Isaiah 5:4

  What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I waited for it to produce grapes, did it produce sour grapes?

• Isaiah 5:7

  For the vineyard of YHWH Tsevaot is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the planting of his delight; and he waited for justice, but look, bloodshed; for righteousness, but look, an outcry.

• Isaiah 8:17

  And I will wait for YHWH, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

• Isaiah 25:9

  And one will say on that day, “Look, this is our Elohim; we have waited for him, and he will save us. This is YHWH; we have waited for him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

• Isaiah 26:8

  Yes, in the path of your judgments, YHWH, we have waited for you; to your name and to your remembrance is the desire of our soul.

• Isaiah 33:2

  YHWH, show us favor; for you we have waited. Be their arm every morning, also our salvation in the time of distress.

• Isaiah 40:31

  but those who wait for YHWH will renew their strength; they will go up with plumage like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not grow tired.

• Isaiah 49:23

  And kings will be your foster fathers, and their princesses your nursing mothers; with their faces to the ground they will bow down to you, and the dust of your feet they will lick; and you will know that I am YHWH, that those who wait for me will not be ashamed.”

• Isaiah 51:5

  Near is my righteousness, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; for me the coastlands will wait, and on my arm they will hope.

• Isaiah 59:9

  Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we wait for light, and look, darkness; for brightness, but in gloom we walk.

• Isaiah 59:11

  We growl like bears, all of us, and like doves we keep moaning; we wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

• Isaiah 60:9

  For the coastlands will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your sons from far away, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of YHWH your Elohim, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

• Isaiah 64:3

  When you did fearsome things that we did not wait for, you came down; before you the mountains melted.

• Jeremiah 3:17

  At that time they will call Jerusalem the Throne of YHWH, and all the nations will gather to it, to the name of YHWH at Jerusalem, and they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

• Jeremiah 8:15

  We hoped for peace, but there is no good; for a time of healing, and look, terror!

• Jeremiah 13:16

  Give to YHWH your Elohim glory before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountains of twilight, and you wait for light, and he turns it into the shadow of death, makes it into dense cloud.

• Jeremiah 14:19

  Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there is no good; for a time of healing, and look, terror!

And 9 more times.