Hebrew word · H7008

קִיטוֹר

kitor

smoke

Thick smoke, dense haze or vapour. It occurs only four times: twice here, in Ps 119:83 ('like a wineskin in the smoke', blackened and shrivelled), and in Ps 148:8 ('fire and hail, snow and qîṭōr', probably mist or fog).

Appears 4 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

thick smoke, smoke

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 Genesis 19:28

Range of meaning

Thick smoke, dense haze or vapour. It occurs only four times: twice here, in Ps 119:83 ('like a wineskin in the smoke', blackened and shrivelled), and in Ps 148:8 ('fire and hail, snow and qîṭōr', probably mist or fog). It comes from the root q-ṭ-r, 'to send up smoke', which also gives qəṭōret ('incense') and the verb used for making offerings go up in smoke on the altar.

Against the English

English 'smoke' is accurate. It does lose the sense of something heavy and hanging, a pall rather than a wisp. NIV's 'dense smoke' gets this.

Used elsewhere in the period

The ordinary Hebrew word for smoke is ʿāshān. Exod 19:18 describes Sinai with ʿāshān: 'its smoke went up like the smoke of the kiln (kivshān)'. Genesis 19:28 uses the rarer qîṭōr for the same comparison.

From the study of Psalm 148:8

Range of meaning

Thick smoke or dense vapour. It occurs only four times: Genesis 19:28 (smoke over the cities of the plain, twice), Psalm 119:83 (a wineskin blackened in smoke) and here. It is related to the verb for burning incense or offerings (qṭr).

Against the English

KJV 'vapour', ESV 'mist', BSB, WEB and NASB 'clouds'. All are reasonable for the sky. But each loses the word's literal 'smoke' picture, which is what pairs it with 'fire'.

How it drifted

KJV 'vapour' once simply meant mist or exhalation. Modern readers may hear steam or gas.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has krystallos ('ice'), which makes the line run fire–hail–snow–ice. The Gallican Latin Psalter follows it with glacies. Jerome's Latin version made directly from the Hebrew keeps a vapour sense.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 19:28 קִיטֹ֣ר כְּקִיטֹ֖ר [the] smoke of, like [the] smoke of

    He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

    Here: A rare word for dense, heavy smoke or haze, not the ordinary word for smoke (ʿāshān). It suggests a choking pall hanging over the valley.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 119:83 בְּקִיט֑וֹר in smoke

    Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.

  2. Psalm 148:8 וְקִיט֑וֹר and smoke

    lightning and hail, snow and clouds, powerful wind fulfilling His word,

    Here: Literally 'smoke', the dense plume rising from a furnace (Genesis 19:28). In the sky it means heavy cloud, mist or fog that looks like smoke. It answers 'fire' at the start of the line, the way smoke goes with fire.

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