Hebrew word · H6900

קְבֻרָה

kevuratah

tomb

Burial; grave or burial place (Gen 35:20; Deut 34:6; Isa 14:20; Jer 22:19).

Appears 14 times in 13 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) grave, burial, burial site

1a) grave

1b) burial

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 Ecclesiastes 6:3

Range of meaning

Burial; grave or burial place (Gen 35:20; Deut 34:6; Isa 14:20; Jer 22:19).

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'no burial' is literal. BSB and NIV 'proper burial' interpret it as no honourable burial, which is probably right but is an added clarification.

Used elsewhere in the period

Being left unburied was a covenant curse and a sign of disgrace (Deut 28:26; 1 Kgs 14:11; Isa 14:19–20 on the king of Babylon). Jehoiakim received 'the burial of a donkey' (Jer 22:18–19). Qoheleth himself mentions the wicked being buried and honoured (8:10).

From the study of Isaiah 14:20

Range of meaning

Burial as an act ("his burial") and the burial place ("grave, tomb"). It comes from the verb qavar, "to bury."

Against the English

English "burial" is accurate. What English readers miss is the weight it carried. For an ancient king a proper tomb was not a formality. It was his lasting place among the dead and among his ancestors.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Bible, lying unburied is a covenant curse (Deut 28:26). Jehoiakim gets "the burial of a donkey," dragged and thrown out (Jer 22:19), and Jezebel is left for the dogs (2 Kgs 9:10). Assyrian treaty curses, such as Esarhaddon's succession treaties (672 BC), ask the gods that the oath-breaker's corpse go unburied. Mesopotamian texts describe the ghost of an unburied person as restless, with no one to care for it.

Where it appears

Genesis · 3

  1. Genesis 35:20 קְבֻרָתָ֑הּ קְבֻֽרַת־ grave her, [the] grave of

    Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.

  2. Genesis 47:30 בִּקְבֻרָתָ֑ם in grave their

    but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me with them.” Joseph answered, “I will do as you have requested.”

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 34:6 קְבֻ֣רָת֔וֹ burial place his

    And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 10:2 קְבֻרַ֥ת [the] tomb of

    When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

2 Kings · 3

  1. 2 Kings 9:28 בִקְבֻרָת֛וֹ in grave his

    Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

  2. 2 Kings 21:26 בִּקְבֻרָת֖וֹ in grave his

    And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.

  3. 2 Kings 23:30 בִּקְבֻֽרָת֑וֹ in own grave his

    From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 26:23 הַקְּבוּרָה֙ <the> grave

    And Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field of burial that belonged to the kings, for the people said, “He was a leper.” And his son Jotham reigned in his place.

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 6:3 קְבוּרָ֖ה burial

    A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

    Here: 'A burial', meaning an honourable funeral and grave among his own people. In Israel's world, missing this was a public disgrace.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 14:20 בִּקְבוּרָ֔ה in burial

    You will not join them in burial, since you have destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of the wicked will never again be mentioned.

    Here: "In burial." Both the act of being buried and the tomb itself. In this world, being refused burial was among the worst things that could happen to a person after death.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 22:19 קְבוּרַ֥ת [the] burial of

    He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 32:23 קְבֻרָתָ֑הּ grave its

    Her graves are set in the depths of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who once spread terror in the land of the living.

    Here: 'Her burial-place': the nation's (or its king's) central grave, which the host surrounds.

  2. Ezekiel 32:24 קְבֻרָתָ֑הּ grave its

    Elam is there with all her multitudes around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who went down uncircumcised to the earth below, who once spread their terror in the land of the living. They bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit.

    Here: 'Her grave.' Elam the nation is pictured as one buried figure, with her people placed around her.

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