Hebrew word · H8502

תִּכְלָה

tikhlah

perfection

Because the word occurs only here, its meaning has to be worked out from its root and its relatives. The root k-l-h means "to be complete, be finished, come to an end, be used up" (e.g. Gen 2:1–2, the heavens and earth "were finished").

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

perfection, completion, completeness

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 Psalm 119:96

Range of meaning

Because the word occurs only here, its meaning has to be worked out from its root and its relatives. The root k-l-h means "to be complete, be finished, come to an end, be used up" (e.g. Gen 2:1–2, the heavens and earth "were finished"). The closely related noun tachlit (H8503) means "end, outer limit, completeness": Job 11:7, "can you find the limit of the Almighty?"; Job 26:10 and 28:3, the farthest boundary; Ps 139:22, "with complete hatred". Tikhlah therefore means completeness, the finished or full state of something, its total extent.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB and BSB: "perfection"; NLT: "Even perfection"; NIV: "To all perfection". Today "perfection" suggests flawlessness or ideal quality. The Hebrew is closer to "completeness, full measure, finishedness".

How it drifted

The English goes back through the Latin consummatio / perfectio (per-ficere, "carry through to the end"). In 1611 "perfection" still clearly carried the sense of completion. Modern use has narrowed it to "without fault", and that pulls readers toward moral or aesthetic perfection.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint (LXX Ps 118:96) has syntéleia, "completion, consummation, end", and the Latin Vulgate has consummatio. Both understood it as completion. Job 11:7–9 is an important parallel: tachlit ("limit") of God is set beside God's wisdom being "broader (rechavah) than the sea". That is the same pair of ideas found in this verse.

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 119:96 תִּ֭כְלָה perfection

    I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit.

    Here: A word found only here in the Bible. It comes from the root k-l-h, "to be finished, completed, used up". It means the complete or finished state of a thing, its full extent. It does not mean moral flawlessness. "Every completeness" means anything that has reached its full measure.

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