קֹ֫דֶשׁ

From the study of Isaiah 35:8

Range of meaning

Holiness or sacredness: the state of belonging to God's sphere and being set apart from ordinary use. It is also used for holy things and holy places (the sanctuary is 'the qodesh').

Against the English

'Holiness' is a fair gloss. But modern hearers often reduce it to moral purity or piety. The Hebrew first describes status and ownership: something belongs to God and is therefore off-limits to what is impure.

How it drifted

Over time, especially in later devotional and revivalist traditions, 'holiness' came to mean mainly a believer's inner moral sanctification.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is common for sacred precincts and objects (Exod 3:5, 'holy ground'; Exod 28:36, 'Holy to the LORD'). Isaiah's title for God is 'the Holy One of Israel', and Isa 52:1 calls Jerusalem 'the holy city' where 'the uncircumcised and the unclean will enter you no more'.

From the study of Isaiah 62:12

Range of meaning

A noun meaning "holiness": the quality of belonging to the divine sphere and being set apart from ordinary use. It also means "holy thing" and "holy place" (the sanctuary). Its adjective is qadosh, "holy". Things become holy by being claimed by God and set apart for him, not first by moral achievement. The holiness laws do, however, carry ethical demands with them (Leviticus 19: "be holy, for I am holy", followed by laws about justice, the poor and neighbours).

Against the English

English "holy" often suggests personal piety or moral perfection ("holier-than-thou"). The Hebrew is first about ownership and status: whose these people are. YLT's "People of the Holy One" turns the abstract noun into a title for God. The sense is close, but strictly the noun means "holiness".

How it drifted

Over centuries of devotional use, "holy" narrowed to inner saintliness, and the ritual and ownership sense became less familiar.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2 and 26:19 ("a holy people, 'am qadosh, to the LORD") and Exodus 19:6 ("a holy nation"). Isaiah 63:18 uses the same phrase, 'am qodshekha ("your holy people"). The Dead Sea Scrolls community took up "holy people" language for itself (e.g. the War Scroll, 1QM).

From the study of Psalm 105:3

Range of meaning

Holiness, set-apartness, the sacred. It is what belongs to God's own sphere and is withdrawn from common use (sanctuary, offerings, priests). It is first a category of belonging and separateness. Moral purity follows from it but is not the whole of it.

Against the English

'Holy name' is an accurate rendering. The Hebrew has a noun, 'the name of his holiness', which is a normal Hebrew way of making an adjective.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase 'his holy name' (shem qodsho) occurs often in the Psalms (33:21; 103:1; 106:47; 145:21) and in Lev 20:3 and 22:2, where Israel must not 'profane' it.