Hebrew word · H6991

קָטַל

yiktol-

to slay

To kill or slay. It is rare in Hebrew (only Job 13:15; 24:14; Ps 139:19; Obad 9) but common in Aramaic.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Qal) to slay, kill

Aramaic equivalent: qe.tal (קְטַל "to slay" H6992)

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 Job 13:15

Range of meaning

To kill or slay. It is rare in Hebrew (only Job 13:15; 24:14; Ps 139:19; Obad 9) but common in Aramaic.

Against the English

'Slay' preserves the stark, old-sounding tone. 'Kill' is equally accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 24:14 uses it of the murderer who rises at dawn to kill the poor. Ps 139:19: 'O that you would slay the wicked, O God.'

From the study of Psalm 139:19

Range of meaning

To kill, slay, put to death. In biblical Hebrew it is a rare, poetic word. The everyday Hebrew verbs for killing are hārag and hēmît. In Aramaic, a sister language, qəṭal is the ordinary verb for 'kill'.

Against the English

English 'slay' (BSB, KJV, NIV, ESV) and 'kill' (WEB) are both accurate. 'Slay' sounds archaic and a little softer to modern ears. The Hebrew is blunt.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only three times in the Hebrew Bible: Job 13:15 ('though he slay me'), Job 24:14 (the murderer 'kills the poor and needy'), and here. In the Aramaic parts of Daniel the matching verb is common (Dan 2:13–14; 3:22; 5:19, 30; 7:11), and it is the standard verb in later Aramaic and Syriac. HALOT and BDB both mark it as an Aramaic-influenced, poetic word.

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 13:15 יִ֭קְטְלֵנִי he will kill me

    Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.

    Here: A rare, harsh poetic verb for killing outright. The Hebrew verb form is open-ended: 'he will kill me' or 'he may well kill me'. Job expects that taking God to court will cost him his life.

  2. Job 24:14 יִֽקְטָל־ he kills

    When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 139:19 תִּקְטֹ֖ל you will kill

    O God, that You would slay the wicked—away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

    Here: "You would kill." A rare, blunt verb for killing (normal in Aramaic, found only three times in Hebrew). The form looks ahead: the psalmist asks God to do it; he does not say he will do it himself.

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