Hebrew word · H7033
קָלָה
kalui
to roast
To roast or parch, especially grain held over fire (qali, 'roasted grain,' is a common food: Lev 23:14; Ruth 2:14; 1 Sam 17:17). A related root means 'to be dishonoured' (Deut 25:3; Prov 12:9; Isa 3:5), and some lexicons treat the two as homonyms (unrelated words that sound the same).
Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to roast, parch
1a) (Qal) to roast
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be burned
1b2) burning (participle)
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 Jeremiah 29:22
- Range of meaning
To roast or parch, especially grain held over fire (qali, 'roasted grain,' is a common food: Lev 23:14; Ruth 2:14; 1 Sam 17:17). A related root means 'to be dishonoured' (Deut 25:3; Prov 12:9; Isa 3:5), and some lexicons treat the two as homonyms (unrelated words that sound the same).
- Against the English
'Roasted' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT) keeps the stark, almost kitchen-like verb. Versions that say 'burned' or 'burned alive' make it clear but lose the grim domestic image and the sound play with 'curse.'
- Used elsewhere in the period
Lev 2:14 uses the same verb with the same phrase: grain 'roasted in the fire' (qalui ba'esh). The Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate here appear to choose 'frying' verbs (Greek from the 'frying pan' family; Latin frixit, 'fried'), keeping the cooking image.
- Range of meaning
Qalah I means 'to roast, parch' (Lev 2:14 grain 'roasted in fire'; Jer 29:22 the king of Babylon 'roasted' two men in fire). The noun qali, 'parched grain', was an ordinary food (Ruth 2:14; 1 Sam 17:17). The form here is a passive participle used as a noun: 'something roasted', 'a burning'. A separate root, qalah II, means 'to be lightly esteemed, disgraced' (Deut 25:3; Isa 3:5; Prov 12:9). It is spelled the same way in this form.
- Against the English
BSB has 'burning pain', ESV/NASB/WEB 'burning', NIV 'searing pain', YLT 'drought' (from the idea of parching). KJV has 'loathsome [disease]', which follows the 'disgrace' root and puts 'disease' in italics to show it was added.
- How it drifted
There is no English drift as such. The problem is an old fork in interpretation: the KJV's 'loathsome' comes from reading the 'contemptible, disgraceful' root, an option the Greek and Latin traditions had already taken.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Lev 2:14; Josh 5:11 (roasted grain at Gilgal); 1 Sam 25:18. BDB and HALOT both list Ps 38:8 (Hebrew numbering) under qalah I, 'burning, inflammation'. The Septuagint renders it empaigmōn, 'mockings', and the Old Latin/Gallican Psalter illusionibus. Both reflect the 'disgrace' root.
Where it appears
Leviticus · 1
-
Leviticus 2:14 קָל֤וּי roasted
If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer crushed heads of new grain roasted on the fire.
Joshua · 1
-
Joshua 5:11 וְקָל֑וּי and roasted [grain]
The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.
Psalms · 1
-
Psalm 38:7 נִקְלֶ֑ה burning [pain]
For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body.
Here: Literally 'something roasted' or 'a parching'. The same root is used for roasting grain over a fire. Here it pictures a hot, searing inflammation deep in the body, as if he were being roasted from the inside. Some ancient readers heard instead a similar-sounding root meaning 'disgrace' (see textual notes).
Jeremiah · 1
-
Jeremiah 29:22 קָלָ֥ם he roasted them
Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’
Here: 'Roasted/parched them.' It is the ordinary verb for roasting grain over fire (Lev 2:14). The sound qalam echoes qelalah ('curse') and the name Kolaiah (Qolayah) in v. 21, a deliberate play on sounds.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.