Hebrew word · H3629

כִּלְיָה

hakelayot

kidney

Literally the kidneys of animals or humans. Figuratively, the innermost self: secret emotions, deep desires, conscience, the place where a person is 'instructed' at night (Psalm 16:7), feels anguish (Psalm 73:21) or rejoices (Proverbs 23:16).

Appears 31 times in 26 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) kidneys

1a) of physical organ (lit.)

1b) of seat of emotion and affection (fig.)

1c) of sacrificial animals

2) (TWOT) reins

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Jeremiah 17:10

Range of meaning

Literally the kidneys of animals or humans. Figuratively, the innermost self: secret emotions, deep desires, conscience, the place where a person is 'instructed' at night (Psalm 16:7), feels anguish (Psalm 73:21) or rejoices (Proverbs 23:16).

Against the English

KJV's 'reins' is an older English word for kidneys, from Latin renes, and was accurate in 1611. Today it suggests a horse's reins. NIV, ESV, NASB and BSB say 'mind', which loses the sense of hidden emotion and desire. NLT's 'secret motives' gets closer to the function. WEB gives 'heart' here, swapping the pair.

How it drifted

English stopped using 'reins' for kidneys, and modern readers do not treat organs as seats of feeling. So translators replace the organ with an abstract word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Heart and kidneys appear as a pair in Psalm 7:9 (Hebrew 7:10), Psalm 26:2, and Jeremiah 11:20 and 20:12. In Jeremiah 12:2 the people have God 'near in their mouth but far from their kidneys'. In sacrificial law the kidneys and their fat were reserved and burned for Yahweh (Leviticus 3:4, 10, 15). The LXX has nephroi, and Revelation 2:23 keeps that wording.

From the study of Jeremiah 11:20

Range of meaning

Kilyāh is the physical kidney: of sacrificial animals in Leviticus 3–4, and of humans in Job 16:13 and Lamentations 3:13. Used figuratively, the kidneys are the hidden inner self: deep feelings (Proverbs 23:16, "my kidneys will rejoice"), conscience that warns (Psalm 16:7, "my kidneys instruct me"), private grief (Psalm 73:21). Lēb, the heart, covers mind, reason, memory, intention and will, and emotion less often. Put together, "kidneys and heart" means the whole inner life: what a person feels and what a person intends.

Against the English

KJV's "reins" is old English for kidneys (from Latin renes). Few people today know that sense. BSB, ESV and WEB say "heart and mind", which keeps the idea of the whole inner person but loses the body imagery and swaps the order. NASB 1995 has "feelings and the heart". NLT turns it into plain abstract language.

How it drifted

"Reins" lost its anatomical meaning in English, and modern readers hear the leather straps used to steer a horse. Modern English also makes the "heart" the centre of feeling, but in Hebrew it is mainly the centre of thought and decision.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same pair appears in Psalm 7:9 (Heb. 7:10, God "tests hearts and kidneys"), Psalm 26:2, and in Jeremiah 17:10 and 20:12. The LXX translates it nephrous kai kardias, and Revelation 2:23 repeats that wording for the risen Christ ("I am he who searches kidneys and hearts"). This shows the phrase had become a set title for God as the one who reads hidden motives.

From the study of Jeremiah 12:2

Range of meaning

Literally the kidneys (of sacrificial animals, Lev 3:4). Figuratively, the innermost, hidden part of a person: the seat of deep emotion, conscience and secret motive (Ps 16:7; 73:21; Prov 23:16; Job 19:27).

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'reins' (an old word for kidneys, from Latin renes) is accurate but now opaque. BSB, ESV, WEB and NIV use 'heart(s)'. NASB uses 'mind'. Each modern choice gets the inner-self idea across but loses the pairing with 'heart' that Jeremiah uses elsewhere.

How it drifted

English lost 'reins' in this sense centuries ago, and English has no figurative use of 'kidneys'. Translators replace it with 'heart'. But modern 'heart' means mainly feelings, while Hebrew lev ('heart') was mostly the mind and will. The kidneys were the deeper, hidden feelings beneath it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah regularly pairs the two: God 'tests the kidneys and the heart' (11:20; 17:10; 20:12; compare Ps 7:9; 26:2). Verse 3 here continues with 'you test my heart'. Kidneys were also offered on the altar as choice inner parts (Lev 3:4, 10, 15).

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 29:13 הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת the kidneys

    Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.

    Here: The literal organs, which lie embedded in a thick pad of fat. In Hebrew poetry the same word stands for a person's innermost thoughts and feelings (KJV 'reins'), but here it is anatomical.

  2. Exodus 29:22 הַכְּלָיֹ֗ת the kidneys

    Take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh (since this is a ram for ordination),

Leviticus · 14

  1. Leviticus 3:4 הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת הַכְּלָי֖וֹת the kidneys

    both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

    Here: The animal's actual kidneys. They are listed because they are wrapped in thick fat. Elsewhere in the Bible the same word is used for a person's innermost self.

  2. Leviticus 3:10 הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת the kidneys

    both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

  3. Leviticus 3:15 הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת the kidneys

    both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys.

    Here: The animal's physical kidneys. Elsewhere in poetry the word can stand for a person's hidden inner self, but here it is plain anatomy.

  4. Leviticus 4:9 הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת הַכְּלָי֖וֹת the kidneys

    both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys—

  5. Leviticus 7:4 הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת the kidneys

    both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys.

  6. Leviticus 8:16 הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת the kidneys

    Moses also took all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it all on the altar.

  7. Leviticus 8:25 הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת the kidneys

    And Moses took the fat—the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with their fat—as well as the right thigh.

    Here: The literal kidneys of the ram, which sit packed in suet. Elsewhere in poetry the same word stands for a person's inmost feelings, but here it is purely anatomical.

  8. Leviticus 9:10 הַכְּלָיֹ֜ת the kidneys

    On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver from the sin offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

  9. Leviticus 9:19 וְהַכְּלָיֹ֔ת and the kidneys

    They also brought the fat portions from the ox and the ram—the fat tail, the fat covering the entrails, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver—

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 32:14 כִּלְי֣וֹת [the] kidneys of

    with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.

    Here: The fat around the kidneys was the choicest fat of an animal and was burned for God on the altar (Lev 3:4). Calling the wheat 'kidney-fat' marks it as top-grade, and the plump grain may also have looked like a kidney.

Job · 2

  1. Job 16:13 כִּ֭לְיוֹתַי kidneys my

    His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

  2. Job 19:27 כִלְיֹתַ֣י kidneys my

    I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!

Psalms · 5

  1. Psalm 7:9 וּכְלָי֗וֹת and kidneys

    Put an end to the evil of the wicked, but establish the righteous, O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.

    Here: 'And kidneys': the deepest, most hidden part of a person, where the strongest feelings and the conscience were thought to sit. Paired with 'hearts', it means 'the whole inner person, down to the parts no one else can see'.

  2. Psalm 16:7 כִלְיוֹתָֽי׃ kidneys my

    I will bless the LORD who counsels me; even at night my conscience instructs me.

    Here: 'My kidneys.' Literally the organ. Hebrew uses it for the most hidden part of a person: deep feelings, desires and moral sense, the part only God can search. Here it is the grammatical subject. The speaker's innermost self is doing the training.

  3. Psalm 26:2 כִלְיוֹתַ֣י kidneys my

    Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.

    Here: "My kidneys": literally the organs, used for the hidden depths of a person, meaning deepest feelings, desires, conscience and secret motives. It names what is most hidden inside, which only God can see.

  4. Psalm 73:21 וְ֝כִלְיוֹתַ֗י and kidneys my

    When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,

  5. Psalm 139:13 כִלְיֹתָ֑י kidneys my

    For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

    Here: Literally 'my kidneys'. They are deeply hidden physical organs, and in Hebrew thought also the seat of the most private emotions, desires and conscience. This is the part of a person God is said to 'test' (Jer 11:20; Ps 7:9). The psalmist says God made the very core that God examines.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 23:16 כִלְיוֹתָ֑י kidneys my

    My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 34:6 כִּלְי֣וֹת [the] kidneys of

    The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood. It drips with fat—with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

    Here: The kidneys. Their surrounding fat is exactly the portion Leviticus says must be removed and burned for God (Lev 3:4, 10, 15). A hearer would recognise the language of the altar.

Jeremiah · 4

  1. Jeremiah 11:20 כְּלָי֖וֹת kidneys

    O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

    Here: Literally "kidneys". Hebrew uses the hidden organ for a person's deepest feelings, motives and conscience, the part nobody else can see.

  2. Jeremiah 12:2 מִכִּלְיוֹתֵיהֶֽם׃ from kidneys their

    You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

    Here: 'From their kidneys.' Hebrew located a person's deepest, hidden feelings and motives in the kidneys, the part that only God can examine. God is in their mouths but absent from their innermost selves.

  3. Jeremiah 17:10 כְּלָי֑וֹת [the] kidneys

    I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

    Here: Literally 'kidneys'. These were organs buried deep in the body and stood for a person's most hidden feelings, desires and conscience. Paired with 'heart', they cover the whole hidden interior.

  4. Jeremiah 20:12 כְלָי֖וֹת kidneys

    O LORD of Hosts, who examines the righteous, who sees the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

    Here: Literally 'kidneys.' Hebrew treated them as the hidden seat of a person's deepest feelings, impulses and conscience, the part no outsider can see.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:13 בְּכִלְיוֹתָ֔י in kidneys my

    He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.