Hebrew word · H8503

תַּכְלִית

takhlit

limit

From the root k-l-h, 'to be complete, finished, used up'. It means the end point, the outermost limit, and so completeness.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) end, perfection, consummation, completion, completeness

1a) end

1b) 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 Job 11:7

Range of meaning

From the root k-l-h, 'to be complete, finished, used up'. It means the end point, the outermost limit, and so completeness. It occurs only five times: the 'end' of Eliashib's house (Nehemiah 3:21); the 'boundary' between light and darkness at the world's edge (Job 26:10); the miner who searches 'to every farthest limit' (Job 28:3); 'perfect (complete) hatred' (Psalm 139:22); and here.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB say 'limit(s)', which is accurate. The KJV and YLT say 'unto perfection'. In 1611 that meant 'completely, to the full'. Today it sounds like moral flawlessness. NLT gives the sense as 'everything about'.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'unto perfection' comes from the Latin Vulgate's usque ad perfectum, 'all the way to completion'. English 'perfection' has since narrowed toward 'flawlessness', so the old rendering now suggests 'Can you discover how perfect God is?', which is not what the line asks.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 28:3 is the closest parallel. It joins taklît with the verb ḥāqar: 'to every limit he (the miner) searches.' Job 28 then argues that wisdom lies beyond even the miner's deepest shaft. Job 26:10 uses taklît for the cosmic edge of the world.

From the study of Job 26:10

Range of meaning

From kālâ, 'to be finished, come to an end'. It means the end-point or farthest limit (Job 11:7, 'the limit of the Almighty'; Job 28:3, the miner searching 'to the farthest limit'), and by extension completeness or totality (Ps 139:22, 'perfect/complete hatred'; Ps 119:96, 'an end to all perfection').

Against the English

BSB, ESV and NASB say 'boundary', YLT 'boundary', WEB 'confines'. These read it as place. KJV's 'until the day and night come to an end' reads it as time, an end of days.

How it drifted

KJV follows the Latin Vulgate's 'until light and darkness come to an end'. The word can carry the idea of completion, but its other uses in Job (11:7; 28:3) are about place, the farthest reaches.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 11:7; 28:3; Psalm 139:22; 119:96; Nehemiah 3:21 (the 'end' of a house). In Job 28:3 the same idea, a limit set where 'darkness' and 'gloom' begin, describes the miner pushing light into the dark underground.

Where it appears

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 3:21 תַּכְלִ֖ית [the] end of

    Next to him, Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the doorway of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house.

Job · 3

  1. Job 11:7 תַּכְלִ֖ית [the] end of

    Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?

    Here: The farthest boundary, the point where something is finished. 'Reaching the taklît of Shaddai' means getting to the outer edge of who God is and so taking his full measure.

  2. Job 26:10 תַּכְלִ֖ית [the] end of

    He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

    Here: The outermost point, the place where something runs out. Here it is the end of light, the line past which light does not go.

  3. Job 28:3 תַּ֭כְלִית outermost part

    Man puts an end to the darkness; he probes the farthest recesses for ore in deepest darkness.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 139:22 תַּכְלִ֣ית completeness of

    I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my enemies.

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