Hebrew word · H3641
כַּלְנֶה
khalneh
Calneh
As a place name, Calneh/Calno also occurs in Amos 6:2 and Isa 10:9. There it is Kullani (Kullania), a city in northern Syria near Arpad that Assyria conquered in 738 BC. That city lies far outside Shinar, and no Calneh is known in Babylonia itself.
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
Calneh or Calno = "fortress of Anu"
an Assyrian city near Aleppo
captured by Assyria in the 8th century BC
Another spelling of kal.neh (כַּלְנֵ֑ה "Calneh" H3641A)
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 Genesis 10:10
- Range of meaning
As a place name, Calneh/Calno also occurs in Amos 6:2 and Isa 10:9. There it is Kullani (Kullania), a city in northern Syria near Arpad that Assyria conquered in 738 BC. That city lies far outside Shinar, and no Calneh is known in Babylonia itself.
- Against the English
Most English versions (KJV, ESV, NASB, BSB, NIV "Kalneh") keep it as a city. RSV and NRSV adopt the repointed reading and say "all of them in the land of Shinar".
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Greek Old Testament (LXX) has Chalannē, and the Vulgate Chalanne, so the ancient translators read a city name. The Talmud (b. Yoma 10a) identifies it with Nippur. Later Aramaic paraphrases (Targums) give other identifications. In 1944 W. F. Albright proposed reading the same consonants as kullanah, "all of them". The same construction appears with this word in Gen 42:36.
- Range of meaning
A proper name. This spelling ends in -ô. The same city is spelled Calneh (kalnēh) in Amos 6:2. The 'Calneh' in Genesis 10:10, set in Babylonia, is probably a different place, or possibly not a city name at all.
- Against the English
KJV, BSB, WEB and YLT have 'Calno.' Some modern versions spell it 'Kalno.' None of them can show that it is the same city as Amos's Calneh.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Assyrian Kullani/Kullania is generally identified with Kunulua (Tell Tayinat in the Amuq plain near Antakya), capital of the kingdom of Unqi/Patina. Tiglath-pileser III's annals record its capture and conversion into an Assyrian province around 738 BC.
Where it appears
Genesis · 1
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Genesis 10:10 וְכַלְנֵ֑ה and Calneh
His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Here: The Masoretic vowels read this as a fourth city, Calneh, but no such city is known in Babylonia. Read with different vowels, the same consonants mean "and all of them", which would sum up the list. See the textual notes and debates.
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 10:9 כַּלְנ֑וֹ [is] Calneh
“Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
Here: Calno is Assyrian Kullani, capital of the Syrian kingdom of Unqi/Patina, conquered by Tiglath-pileser III around 738 BC. The Hebrew packs the clause tight with no verb: 'Calno: like Carchemish.'
Amos · 1
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Amos 6:2 כַֽלְנֵה֙ Calneh
Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.