Hebrew word · H7087

קָפָא

kafe'u

to congeal

Qafa' means to thicken, congeal or curdle (Exodus 15:8, waters congealed; Job 10:10, curdled like cheese). Shemer/shemarim are the lees: the sediment of yeast and grape matter in a wine jar. Positively, wine aged on its lees could be rich (Isaiah 25:6, 'aged wines').

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

What it means

v

1) to thicken, condense, congeal, settle, become dense

1a) (Qal) to be condensed

1a1) thickening (participle)

1b) (Hiphil) to cause to curdle

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 Zephaniah 1:12

Range of meaning

Qafa' means to thicken, congeal or curdle (Exodus 15:8, waters congealed; Job 10:10, curdled like cheese). Shemer/shemarim are the lees: the sediment of yeast and grape matter in a wine jar. Positively, wine aged on its lees could be rich (Isaiah 25:6, 'aged wines'). Negatively, the dregs are the last bitter bottom of the cup (Psalm 75:8).

Against the English

KJV and WEB keep the image ('settled on their lees/dregs'), which modern readers find obscure. BSB and others turn it into the abstract 'complacency', which is accurate but loses the picture. YLT 'hardened on their preserved things' plays on shemer's link to shamar 'keep'.

How it drifted

Wine-making is no longer common knowledge, so the image needs explaining. It is lost to readers rather than distorted.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest parallel is Jeremiah 48:11: Moab 'has settled on his lees and has not been poured from vessel to vessel… so his taste remains in him and his scent is unchanged.' In wine-making, wine had to be poured off (racked) from its sediment at the right time. Left too long, it went thick, syrupy and harsh, and spoiled.

From the study of Exodus 15:8

Range of meaning

To thicken, curdle or congeal: a liquid turning stiff or settling. Job 10:10, 'curdle me like cheese'. Zephaniah 1:12, men 'thickening on their dregs' like neglected wine. Related to qippa'on, 'congealing/frost' (Zechariah 14:6, a difficult text).

Against the English

'Congealed' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate. Some modern paraphrases say the deep waters 'became hard', which is close. Readers sometimes imagine the sea literally freezing into ice. The verb is about thickening, not cold.

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX uses ἐπάγη ('was fixed, solidified') twice in this verse. The Vulgate has coagulatae sunt abyssi, 'the abysses were coagulated'. Both understood it as solidifying, not freezing.

From the study of Zechariah 14:6

Range of meaning

From the root qp' 'to thicken, congeal, curdle, solidify'. The waters of the sea 'congealed' (Exod 15:8). Job is 'curdled like cheese' (Job 10:10). Complacent men 'thickened on their dregs' like wine left too long (Zeph 1:12). The noun form appears only here.

Against the English

BSB, WEB and NRSV have 'frost', the freezing that thickens water into ice. KJV and YLT have 'dark' / 'dense darkness', taking 'thickness' in the sense of thick, murky gloom. NASB has 'dwindle', following the Kethiv verb: the luminaries 'shrink'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has πάγος ('frost, ice') and the Vulgate gelu ('frost'). Both support a weather meaning. Medieval Jewish commentators (e.g. Rashi, Kimchi) took it as 'thickness / heaviness' of the light, i.e. dimness, and the KJV follows them.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 15:8 קָֽפְא֥וּ they congealed

    At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

    Here: Elsewhere this verb is used for milk curdling into cheese (Job 10:10) and for wine thickening on its dregs (Zephaniah 1:12). Liquid becomes a stiff, settled mass. Nothing in the word points to ice.

Job · 1

  1. Job 10:10 תַּקְפִּיאֵֽנִי׃ did you curdle? me

    Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 1:12 הַקֹּֽפְאִים֙ who are thickening

    And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men settled in complacency, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.’

    Here: 'Those who are thickening': used of liquids going stiff (Exodus 15:8, waters congealed; Job 10:10, milk curdled into cheese). The participle shows an ongoing state, gone thick and sluggish.

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 14:6 וְקִפָּאֽוֹן׃ and frost

    On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.

    Here: From a root meaning to thicken, curdle or freeze solid. This exact word appears nowhere else in the Bible. Read as a noun (Qere) it is 'frost' or 'congealing'; read as a verb (Kethiv) it says the splendid lights 'will congeal', that is, shrink or freeze in place.

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