Hebrew word · H3664

כָּנַס

kones

to gather

To gather, collect, heap up. It is used for amassing things such as waters, stones, silver and supplies, and for assembling people. It is fairly rare and occurs mostly in later biblical Hebrew. In one place the reflexive form means "to wrap oneself up" (Isa 28:20).

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to gather, collect, wrap

1a) (Qal) to gather

1b) (Piel) to gather

1c) (Hithpael) to gather together, wrap oneself up

Aramaic equivalent: ka.nash (כְּנַשׁ "to gather" H3673)

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 22:21

Range of meaning

To gather, collect, heap up. It is used for amassing things such as waters, stones, silver and supplies, and for assembling people. It is fairly rare and occurs mostly in later biblical Hebrew. In one place the reflexive form means "to wrap oneself up" (Isa 28:20).

Against the English

"Gather" (KJV, WEB, BSB) is accurate. YLT's "heaped you up" brings out the physical, pile-it-together feel of the word in a metalworking scene. BSB's "gather you together" is fine.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 33:7 (God "gathers the waters of the sea as a heap"); Eccl 2:8, 26 (piling up silver and gold); Eccl 3:5 ("a time to gather stones"); 1 Chr 22:2; Neh 12:44; Esth 4:16 ("gather all the Jews"). Ezekiel uses it again in 39:28 for God gathering exiles back to their land, there in a hopeful sense. In vv. 19–20 the parallel verb is qavats, the usual word for gathering.

From the study of Psalm 147:2

Range of meaning

To gather, collect, heap up, or assemble. It is used for stones (Ecclesiastes 3:5), silver and treasure (Ecclesiastes 2:8, 26), produce and temple portions (Nehemiah 12:44), workers (1 Chronicles 22:2) and people (Esther 4:16; Ezekiel 22:21; 39:28). Its reflexive form in Isaiah 28:20 means to wrap oneself up. The related Aramaic verb appears in Daniel 3:2–3 for assembling officials.

Against the English

English 'gathers' or 'gathers together' is accurate. The KJV's 'gathereth together' captures the sense of bringing scattered things into one place.

Used elsewhere in the period

Most uses are in late books (Ecclesiastes, Esther, Chronicles, Nehemiah, Ezekiel). It is one of the vocabulary signs scholars use to date this psalm after the exile. Ezekiel 39:28: 'I gathered them (kinnastim) to their own land'. In post-biblical Hebrew the root gives knesset, 'assembly', as in beit knesset ('synagogue') and the Great Assembly that rabbinic tradition placed in Ezra's time.

From the study of Psalm 33:7

Range of meaning

To gather or collect: silver and gold (Eccl 2:8, 26), stones (Eccl 3:5), people (Esth 4:16; 1 Chr 22:2; Ezek 39:28), and metals for smelting (Ezek 22:21). It is uncommon (about eleven occurrences), mostly in later books.

Against the English

'Gathers' (KJV, WEB, ESV) is right. BSB's 'piles up' merges the verb with 'like a heap'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Often linked with the later Hebrew and Aramaic sense 'to assemble' (compare the later knesset, 'assembly'). Some scholars count its use here as one sign that this psalm is relatively late, though that is not decisive.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 22:2 לִכְנוֹס֙ to gather

    So David gave orders to gather the foreigners in the land of Israel, from whom he appointed stonecutters to prepare finished stones for building the house of God.

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 12:44 לִכְנ֨וֹס to gather

    And on that same day men were appointed over the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tithes. The portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites were gathered into these storerooms from the fields of the villages, because Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who were serving.

    Here: A word for collecting and gathering in, as with harvest or stores. The appointed men's job was to bring the produce in and store it.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 4:16 כְּנ֨וֹס gather

    “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

    Here: A late Hebrew verb for bringing people or things together (compare Psalm 147:2, 'he gathers the outcasts of Israel'). Here it means calling the community together for a shared act.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 33:7 כֹּנֵ֣ס [he is] gathering

    He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.

    Here: An ongoing 'he is the one who gathers', not a one-time past act. The verb is used for collecting things of value: silver, stones, people. Here God gathers the sea the way a person brings goods together.

  2. Psalm 147:2 יְכַנֵּֽס׃ he gathers

    The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.

    Here: 'He gathers (in)'. The verb form describes ongoing or repeated action: he keeps gathering. This is a late Hebrew word for collecting things or people into one place (Esther 4:16; Ezekiel 39:28). Its root later gave the words for a synagogue (beit knesset, 'house of assembly') and the Knesset.

Ecclesiastes · 3

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:8 כָּנַ֤סְתִּי I gathered

    and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—many concubines.

  2. Ecclesiastes 2:26 וְלִכְנ֗וֹס and to collect

    To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

    Here: 'And to heap up', a late Hebrew verb. Qohelet used the same verb in 2:8 for his own hoarding: 'I gathered for myself silver and gold.' So the sinner is doing exactly what the 'king' boasted of doing.

  3. Ecclesiastes 3:5 כְּנ֣וֹס to gather

    a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 28:20 כְּהִתְכַּנֵּֽס׃ when wraps oneself up

    Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too small to wrap around you.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 22:21 וְכִנַּסְתִּ֣י and I will gather

    Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.

    Here: "And I will heap together." God himself scoops the people into one place, like a smith piling scrap metal into a crucible. The verb form looks ahead to what God will do, not back to something already done.

  2. Ezekiel 39:28 וְכִנַּסְתִּ֖ים and I will gather them

    Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, when I regather them to their own land, not leaving any of them behind after their exile among the nations.

    Here: This continues the 'in my exiling' clause: 'and [in my] gathering them'. Exile and ingathering are paired as two acts of the same God. The verb means to collect, assemble or heap together scattered things.

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