Hebrew word · H8626

תָּקַן

tiken

be straight

'Make straight, put right, set in order, arrange.' It is a late Hebrew word with Aramaic links. In rabbinic Hebrew the related noun taqqanah means a corrective enactment or ordinance, something that 'puts right'.

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

What it means

1) to equalise, make straight, become straight

1a) (Qal) to become straight

1b) (Piel) to make straight, put straight, arrange in order, set in order

1c) (Hophal) to be established, be reestablished, confirm

Aramaic equivalent: te.qan (תְּקַן "to confirm" H8627)

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 Ecclesiastes 12:9

Range of meaning

'Make straight, put right, set in order, arrange.' It is a late Hebrew word with Aramaic links. In rabbinic Hebrew the related noun taqqanah means a corrective enactment or ordinance, something that 'puts right'.

Against the English

KJV, WEB: 'set in order'. BSB, NASB: 'arranged'. YLT: 'made right'. 'Arranged' can suggest no more than sorting or filing. The Hebrew also carries the sense of straightening or correcting, i.e. polishing a saying into its right shape.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible it appears only in Ecclesiastes: 1:15, 'what is crooked cannot be made straight (litqon)'; 7:13, 'who can straighten (letaqqen) what he has made crooked?'; and here.

From the study of Ecclesiastes 7:13

Range of meaning

To straighten, set in order, arrange, put right. It is a late word. In the Bible it occurs only in Ecclesiastes: 1:15 and 7:13 ('straighten'), and 12:9, where Qohelet 'arranged' or 'set in order' many proverbs. It also appears in Biblical Aramaic in Dan 4:36 (4:33 Aramaic), where Nebuchadnezzar is 're-established' in his kingdom.

Against the English

'Straighten' or 'make straight' in nearly all versions. That is accurate. The verb also suggests orderly correction, putting something back the way it should be, which English 'straighten' only partly carries.

Used elsewhere in the period

In later rabbinic Hebrew the same root gives taqqānāh ('ordinance, remedy') and tiqqûn ('repair, correction'), the root behind the much later phrase tiqqûn 'ôlām, 'repair of the world.' Those meanings developed centuries after Qohelet and should not be read back into this verse. The overlap only confirms that the core sense is 'putting right.'

Where it appears

Ecclesiastes · 3

  1. Ecclesiastes 1:15 לִתְקֹ֑ן to become straight

    What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

  2. Ecclesiastes 7:13 לְתַקֵּ֔ן to straighten

    Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent?

    Here: 'To straighten.' This is a late Hebrew verb, found only in Ecclesiastes in the Bible. The picture is bending something warped back into line, so 'put right' or 'fix' is close.

  3. Ecclesiastes 12:9 תִּקֵּ֖ן he arranged in order

    Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught the people knowledge; he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

    Here: 'Make straight, put right, arrange.' There is no 'and' before it, so it may sum up the result of the weighing and probing. The same verb is used in 1:15 and 7:13 for what cannot be 'made straight', which gives an ironic echo.

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