Hebrew word · H7099

קָ֫צוּ

katzvei-

boundary

'Edges/ends of the land/earth'. It can mean the frontiers of a country or the far rim of the known world.

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

What it means

end, border, boundary

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 Isaiah 26:15

Range of meaning

'Edges/ends of the land/earth'. It can mean the frontiers of a country or the far rim of the known world.

Against the English

'Borders of the land' (BSB, NIV, ESV, WEB) is national and territorial. 'Ends of the earth' (KJV, YLT) is global. The Hebrew can be read either way.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 48:10 (Eng; 'your praise reaches to the ends of the earth'), Ps 65:5 (Eng; 'the hope of all the ends of the earth'). Both use this rare plural form of the noun in the global sense.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 48:10 קַצְוֵי־ [the] ends of

    Your name, O God, like Your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.

    Here: The farthest edges, the outer limits of the inhabited world. It is a rare word, used in the same phrase in Ps 65:5 (Eng.) and Isa 26:15.

  2. Psalm 65:5 קַצְוֵי־ [the] ends of

    With awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.

    Here: 'The ends (of)': the farthest rims of the inhabited world as ancient people pictured it.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 26:15 קַצְוֵי־ [the] boundaries of

    You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for Yourself; You have extended all the borders of the land.

    Here: "The ends/edges of." This is the outermost limit of a space. In the stock phrase 'ends of the earth' (Ps 48:10; 65:5) it means the far rim of the inhabited world. Here, joined to the verb 'make far', it means the edges of the people's territory.

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