H3615 — כָּלָה (kâlâh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3615
Original: כָּלָה
Transliteration: kâlâh
Pronunciation: kaw-law
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Primitive root
Occurrences: 199 unique verses (258 tokens) in OT
First Occurrence: Gen 2:1 — "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to end, whether intransitive (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitive (to complete, prepare, consume):—accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine, destroy (utterly), be (when... were) done, (be an) end (of), expire, (cause to) fail, faint, finish, fulfil, fully, have, leave (off), long, bring to pass, wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, quite take away, waste.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Piel	141	complete, finish, bring to an end, consume, destroy
Qal	64	come to an end, be finished, be consumed, fail, be spent
Pual	1	be completed, be finished

The Piel stem (transitive/intensive) dominates, expressing the active sense of bringing something to completion or consuming. The Qal stem (intransitive/stative) expresses the passive result: things coming to their end. Pual occurs only once (Gen 2:1: "the heavens and the earth were finished").

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Consolidated into semantic groups:

Translation Cluster	Approx. Verses	%
made an end / ended / done	~40	20%
finished / fulfilled	~25	13%
consumed / consume / spent	~35	18%
fail / faileth / faint	~22	11%
determined / accomplished	~8	4%
left / leave off	~5	3%
Other (waste, cease, expire, etc.)	~64	32%

The KJV's rendering is highly contextual and often embedded in multi-word translations (e.g., "had made an end of speaking"). The core sense is consistently completion, with the destructive sense ("consume") arising from the context of divine judgment.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Psalms	21	0.9
Genesis	16	1.0
2 Chronicles	16	1.9
Ezekiel	15	1.2
Jeremiah	13	1.0
1 Kings	12	1.5
Isaiah	12	0.9
Job	11	1.0
Exodus	10	0.8
1 Samuel	10	1.2
Deuteronomy	7	0.7
Numbers	7	0.5
2 Samuel	6	0.9
Joshua	5	0.8
Leviticus	5	0.6
Lamentations	5	3.2
Ezra	4	1.4
Proverbs	3	0.3
2 Kings	3	0.4
1 Chronicles	3	0.3
Daniel	3	0.8
Judges	2	0.3
Malachi	1	1.8
Amos	1	0.7
Esther	1	0.6
Hosea	1	0.5
Zechariah	1	0.5
Nehemiah	1	0.2

Highest concentration in Lamentations (3.2/100 verses), 2 Chronicles (1.9), and Malachi (1.8). Distributed across all major OT genres: Torah, history, poetry, and prophecy.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Completion of a Task or Work (transitive: Piel; intransitive: Qal)¶

Gen 2:1 — "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished" (Pual)
Gen 2:2 — "on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made" (Piel)
Exo 39:32 — "Thus was all the work of the tabernacle...finished" (Qal)
1Ki 6:14 — "So Solomon built the house, and finished it" (Piel)

2. Finishing Speaking / "Made an End of..." (Piel)¶

Gen 24:15 — "before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out"
Gen 27:30 — "as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob"
Num 16:31 — "as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder"
Deu 32:45 — "And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel"

3. Divine Judgment / Consumption (Piel, Qal)¶

Exo 32:10 — "that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them" (Piel)
Num 16:21 — "Separate yourselves...that I may consume them in a moment" (Piel)
Jer 10:25 — "they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him" (Piel)
Lam 3:22 — "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed" (Qal)

4. Wrath/Fury Accomplished (Piel)¶

Lam 4:11 — "The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger" (Piel)
Eze 5:13 — "Thus shall mine anger be accomplished...and I will be comforted" (Qal + Piel)
Eze 6:12 — "He that is far off shall die...and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them" (Piel)
Eze 20:8 — "to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt" (Piel)

5. Eyes Failing / Longing / Being Spent (Qal, Piel)¶

Psa 69:3 — "I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God" (Qal)
Psa 84:2 — "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD" (Qal)
Job 19:27 — "my reins be consumed within me" (Qal — margin reads "reins in my bosom are consumed with longing")
Lam 2:11 — "Mine eyes do fail with tears" (Qal)

6. Time or Resources Being Spent / Ended (Qal)¶

Gen 21:15 — "And the water was spent in the bottle" (Qal)
Gen 41:53 — "the seven years of plenteousness...were ended" (Qal)
1Ki 17:14 — "The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail" (Qal)
Job 7:6 — "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope" (Qal)

7. Determination / Decided Evil (Qal)¶

1Sa 20:7 — "be sure that evil is determined by him" (Qal)
1Sa 20:9 — "if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee" (Qal)
1Sa 25:17 — "for evil is determined against our master" (Qal)

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עָשָׂה (asah)	H6213	22x	"finished the work" — completion of making
דָבַר (dabar)	H1696	21x	"made an end of speaking" — finishing a speech
יוֹם (yom)	H3117	26x	"when these days are expired" — temporal completion
עַיִן (ayin)	H5869	16x	"eyes fail" — physical/spiritual exhaustion
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	22x	"land consumed" — judgment context
אַף (aph) / חֵמָה (chemah)	H639 / H2534	often	"anger is accomplished" — divine wrath

Synonyms (from SDBH)¶

H8552 תָּמַם (tamam) — to be complete, finished; often used interchangeably with kalah for "to be consumed"
H6 אָבַד (abad) — to perish, be destroyed; overlaps with kalah's destructive sense
H656 אֶפֶס (ephes) — to cease, come to an end
H3772 כָּרַת (karath) — to cut off; overlaps in "fail" translations
H5674 עָבַר (abar) — to pass over, pass away; overlaps in temporal completion sense

Antonyms¶

Not available in SDBH for this word

Word Family / Cognates¶

H3617 כָּלָה (kalah) — noun: completion, destruction, consumption (e.g., Isa 10:23, Dan 9:27)
H3615 is the root verb — no parent root; it is itself a primitive root

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
תָּמַם (tamam)	H8552	"consumed," "be consumed," "finished"	tamam = to be complete naturally/wholly; kalah = completion with connotation of ending/cessation
אָכַל (akal)	H398	"consumed," "devoured"	akal = to eat, literally consume food; kalah = to bring to an end, exhaust
אָבַד (abad)	H6	"destroyed," "perish"	abad = to be lost, wander away, perish; kalah = to be finished, completed to nothing
σῠντελέω (synteleo)	G4931	LXX equivalent	The primary LXX translation bridge (85 co-occurrences). kalah → synteleo: "to complete entirely"
τελέω (teleo)	G5055	"finished," "accomplished," "fulfilled"	teleo = to bring to an end, fulfill; smaller LXX bridge (5 co-occ) but theologically important NT word

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Frequency (co-occ)	PMI Score	Notes
συντελέω (synteleo) G4931	85	27.17	Primary equivalent — "to complete entirely"
ἐκλείπω (ekleipo) G1587	30	15.96	"to fail, cease, die out" — covers the intransitive/failing sense
παύω (pauo) G3973	15	13.71	"to stop, cease" — covers the cessation sense
τελέω (teleo) G5055	5	9.84	"to end, complete, conclude" — smaller but theologically significant bridge
συντέλεια (synteleia) G4930	5	6.87	Noun — "completion, consummation"