Hebrew word · H3704

כֶּ֫סֶת

kesatot

amulet

Found only in Ezek 13:18 and 13:20, so its meaning comes from context and related languages. The context shows it is sewn, attached to the arm joints, and used to 'hunt' lives (v.20). It could be either a charm that binds a victim or a protective band, depending on the ritual.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 09, 2026

What it means

1) band, fillet, covered amulets, false phylacteries

1a) used by false prophetesses in Israel to support their demonic fortune-telling schemes

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 13:18

Range of meaning: Found only in Ezek 13:18 and 13:20, so its meaning comes from context and related languages. The context shows it is sewn, attached to the arm joints, and used to 'hunt' lives (v.20). Most modern lexicons (HALOT, building on comparison with Akkadian kasû 'to bind' and related magical 'binding' terms) take it as a band, cord or wristlet used in binding magic. It could be either a charm that binds a victim or a protective band, depending on the ritual.
Against the English: KJV/YLT 'pillows'; BSB/NIV 'magic charms'; WEB/ESV 'magic bands'. 'Pillows' gives a modern reader a picture of bedding with no connection to the passage.
How it drifted: The Septuagint rendered it with a Greek word for cushions or head-rests and the Vulgate with pulvilli ('little cushions'). Medieval Jewish interpreters had similar ideas, and the KJV inherited 'pillows'. The rendering reflects a guess at a rare word, not a change of meaning within English.
Used elsewhere in the period: No other biblical use. The Akkadian comparison (kasû 'to bind') is widely accepted but not certain. Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft texts (e.g. the Maqlû series, a set of Babylonian incantations against witchcraft) describe sorcerers who 'bind' victims with knots and cords, which fits the 'hunting' language here.

Where it appears

Ezekiel · 2

Ezekiel 13:18 כְּסָת֜וֹת bands

and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their wrists and make veils for the heads of people of every height, in order to ensnare their souls. Will you ensnare the souls of My people but preserve your own?

Here: A rare word, found only here and in v.20. It is most likely a cloth band or cord tied on the arm as a binding charm, the instrument of the 'hunt' (v.20: 'I am against your bands with which you hunt lives'). The old rendering 'pillows' comes from the Greek and Latin translations.
Ezekiel 13:20 כִּסְּתוֹתֵיכֶ֙נָה֙ bands your

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: See, I am against the magic charms with which you ensnare souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms. So I will free the souls you have ensnared like birds.

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