Hebrew word · H3632

כָּלִיל

kalil

entire

Kālîl means whole, entire, complete. It is also the term for an offering burned up whole (Deut 33:10; 1 Sam 7:9) and describes a city going up in smoke 'entirely' (Judg 20:40). Yōpî is beauty or splendour, of persons, kings (compare Ps 45:2), cities and brides.

Appears 15 times in 15 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

adj

1) entire, all, perfect

adv

2) entirety

subst

3) whole, whole burnt offering, holocaust, entirety

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 Ezekiel 28:12

Range of meaning

Kālîl means whole, entire, complete. It is also the term for an offering burned up whole (Deut 33:10; 1 Sam 7:9) and describes a city going up in smoke 'entirely' (Judg 20:40). Yōpî is beauty or splendour, of persons, kings (compare Ps 45:2), cities and brides. Together: 'complete in beauty', 'beauty lacking nothing'.

Against the English

'Perfect in beauty' (KJV, BSB, NIV, ESV) is accurate if 'perfect' is taken in its older sense of 'complete'. NLT's 'exquisite in beauty' turns it into an aesthetic compliment and loses the sense of wholeness.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is a stock epithet for a glorious city. Tyre boasts 'I am perfect in beauty' (27:3), and 'your builders perfected your beauty' (27:4, 11). Jerusalem was called 'the perfection of beauty' (Lam 2:15), and Zion is 'perfect in beauty' (Ps 50:2). In Ezek 16:14 Jerusalem's beauty was 'perfect because of my splendour which I had put on you', beauty received as a gift from God.

From the study of 1 Samuel 7:9

Range of meaning

'Whole, complete, entire'. Used as a noun, it is a technical term for an offering burned entirely, with no portion eaten by priest or worshipper (Lev 6:22–23 [Heb 6:15–16]; Deut 33:10; Ps 51:19 [Heb 21], 'burnt offering and whole offering'). It also describes 'perfect' beauty (Ezek 16:14) and a city 'wholly' burned (Deut 13:16).

Against the English

BSB, WEB and most modern versions say 'whole burnt offering'. KJV's 'wholly' keeps the sense. None can show that in Hebrew kalil is a separate technical name added beside ʿolah for emphasis.

Used elsewhere in the period

Phoenician and Punic sacrificial price lists, especially the Marseilles Tariff (KAI 69), name kll as a type of sacrifice. That shows it was a standard West Semitic technical term. The Septuagint here appears not to translate it and has 'with all the people' instead.

From the study of Deuteronomy 33:10

Range of meaning

As an adjective, 'complete, entire, perfect' (Lam 2:15, 'perfect in beauty'). As a sacrificial term, an offering burned entirely to God.

Against the English

'Whole burnt offering' is accurate. Readers may not realise that the point is completeness: nothing was eaten, and all of it went to God.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 7:9 has 'a burnt offering, kālîl'. Ps 51:19 (Hebrew 51:21) has 'burnt offering and whole offering'. Lev 6:22–23 says a priest's grain offering is kālîl and must not be eaten. A Phoenician temple price list from Carthage, found at Marseilles (KAI 69), uses kll as a type of sacrifice, which shows this was a shared West Semitic technical word.

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 28:31 כְּלִ֥יל an entirety of

    You are to make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth,

  2. Exodus 39:22 כְּלִ֖יל an entirety of

    They made the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth, the work of a weaver,

Leviticus · 2

  1. Leviticus 6:22 כָּלִ֥יל a whole offering

    The priest, who is one of Aaron’s sons and will be anointed to take his place, is to prepare it. As a permanent portion for the LORD, it must be burned completely.

  2. Leviticus 6:23 כָּלִ֥יל a whole offering

    Every grain offering for a priest shall be burned completely; it is not to be eaten.”

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 4:6 כְּלִ֛יל an entirety of

    They are to place over this a covering of fine leather, spread a solid blue cloth over it, and insert its poles.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 13:16 כָּלִ֔יל a whole offering

    And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.

  2. Deuteronomy 33:10 וְכָלִ֖יל and [the] whole offering

    He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

    Here: Used as a noun: 'and a whole offering', a sacrifice burned up completely, with nothing kept back for priest or worshipper.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 20:40 כְלִיל־ [the] entirety of

    But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 7:9 כָּלִ֖יל a whole offering

    Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

    Here: 'Entire' or 'a whole offering'. It stands beside ʿolah to stress that nothing was kept back for the worshipper or the priest. The whole animal went to God.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 51:19 וְכָלִ֑יל and whole offering

    Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 2:18 כָּלִ֥יל completely

    and the idols will vanish completely.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:15 כְּלִ֣ילַת perfect of

    All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

    Here: “The completeness of …”: beauty with nothing missing. The same root names the whole burnt offering, burned up entirely.

Ezekiel · 3

  1. Ezekiel 16:14 כָּלִ֣יל [was] perfect

    Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

  2. Ezekiel 27:3 כְּלִ֥ילַת [am] perfect of

    Tell Tyre, who dwells at the gateway to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coasts, that this is what the Lord GOD says: You have said, O Tyre, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’

  3. Ezekiel 28:12 וּכְלִ֥יל and perfect of

    “Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

    Here: 'And complete in', beauty lacking nothing. It is the same stock phrase Tyre used to boast about itself (27:3) and that was used of Jerusalem (Lam 2:15).

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