H3649 — כָּמָר (kâmâr)¶
Core Data¶
- Strong's: H3649
- Original: כָּמָר
- Transliteration: kâmâr
- Pronunciation: kaw-mawr
- Part of Speech: Masculine noun
- Root: From H3648 כָּמַר (kâmar) — "to shrivel / contract"; the lexicon explains the noun as an "ascetic," then specifically as an idolatrous priest
- Occurrences: 3 in OT (3 unique verses; 3 books)
- First Occurrence: 2Ki 23:5 — "And he put down the idolatrous priests..."
- Hapax Legomenon: No — but extremely rare
Lexicon Definition¶
From H3648; properly, an ascetic (as if shrunk with self-maceration), i.e. an idolatrous priest. The KJV handles the word three different ways across its three occurrences: "the idolatrous priests," "the priests thereof," and "the Chemarims."
Across all three uses, kâmâr does not refer to Israel's ordinary priesthood in general. It denotes cult personnel attached to condemned worship settings: high places, calf worship, and Baal-linked shrine service.
Morphology¶
- The lexical form is singular, but the lexicon notes the noun is used only in the plural in biblical usage.
- All three occurrences refer to a class of priests rather than to an individual priest.
- The noun is specialized, not a general synonym for H3548 כֹּהֵן (kôhên).
Translation Distribution (KJV)¶
| Translation | Count | % |
|---|---|---|
| the idolatrous priests | 1 | 33.3% |
| and the priests thereof | 1 | 33.3% |
| of the Chemarims | 1 | 33.3% |
The distribution is too small to show a dominant English equivalent inside the KJV, but all three renderings point to the same semantic core: priests attached to illicit worship.
Distribution by Book¶
| Book | Count | Per 100 Verses |
|---|---|---|
| Zephaniah | 1 | 1.9 |
| Hosea | 1 | 0.5 |
| 2 Kings | 1 | 0.1 |
The word is confined to three judgment-oriented passages and appears only in books dealing with royal apostasy, calf worship, and the removal of Baalistic cult practice.
Semantic Categories¶
With only three occurrences, each verse effectively supplies its own usage category:
1. Royally Supported High-Place Priests¶
- 2 Ki 23:5 — "And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places..."
Here kâmâr names cult officials installed for unlawful incense worship at local shrines and in astral/Baal-related worship settings.
2. Priests Serving the Beth-aven Calf Shrine¶
- Hos 10:5 — "The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven... and the priests thereof [that] rejoiced on it..."
The word identifies shrine personnel bound up with the calf-cult of Beth-aven/Bethel. The verse emphasizes their dependence on the image's "glory," which is about to depart.
3. A Priestly Name Marked for Erasure¶
- Zeph 1:4 — "I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, [and] the name of the Chemarims with the priests"
In Zephaniah the term stands in a judgment formula: not merely the men, but even the remembered name of this priestly class is to be cut off.
Common Collocations¶
Because the word occurs in only three verses, every meaningful collocation appears once. The main patterns are:
| Word | Strong's | Co-occurrences | Typical Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּהֵן (kôhên) | H3548 | 1x | "the Chemarims with the priests" — contrasted with the broader priestly class |
| בָּמָה (bâmâh) | H1116 | 1x | Service at the "high places" |
| בֵּית אָוֶן (Bêyth ʼÂven) | H1007 | 1x | Priests attached to the Beth-aven cult center |
| עֶגְלָה (ʻeglâh) | H5697 | 1x | Priests associated with the calf-image(s) |
| מַזָּלָה (mazzâlâh) | H4208 | 1x | Priests linked to astral worship in Josiah's reform context |
The collocation profile is narrow but consistent: kâmâr appears only in verses about illegitimate cult service.
Related Words¶
Word Family / Cognates¶
- H3648 כָּמַר (kâmar) — parent verb: to shrivel / contract; figuratively to be deeply stirred, kindled, or to yearn. The noun preserves the lexicon's "ascetic / self-macerating" explanation before narrowing to "idolatrous priest."
Synonyms¶
No dedicated synonym list was returned by search_relationships.py for H3649.
Antonyms¶
No antonym list was returned by search_relationships.py for H3649.
Easily Confused Words¶
| Word | Strong's | Shared Translation | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּהֵן (kôhên) | H3548 | priest / priests | Generic or legitimate priesthood term; kâmâr is a specialized term for illicit cult-priests |
| כָּהֵן (kâhên) | H3547 | priestly service | Verb "to act as priest"; denotes the act/office, not this condemned priestly class |
Zephaniah 1:4 is especially clarifying: it distinguishes the Chemarims from the priests, showing that H3649 should not be flattened into the ordinary priest vocabulary.
Semantic Domain¶
Relationship Domain¶
- [001002007008] Priests —
search_relationships.pygroups H3649 with H376 אִישׁ, H3547 כָּהֵן, A3549 כָּהֵן, H3548 כֹּהֵן, H4899 מָשִׁיחַ, and H5650 עֶבֶד.
Within that domain, H3649 is the sharply restricted, polemical term: priesthood viewed specifically in idolatrous or condemned cultic service.
LXX Mapping¶
No stable lexical LXX bridge emerged from the tool data. Because H3649 appears only three times, the alignment tool surfaced only recurrent function words, not a meaningful Greek content-word equivalent.
| Greek Equivalent | Strong's | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| καί (kaí) | G2532 | 3 | Function word only |
| ὁ (ho) | G3588 | 3 | Article only |
On the current tool evidence, H3649 should be treated as having no established canonical Greek bridge in the library. That rules out a reliable cross-testament trace from this entry alone.
First Occurrence¶
2 Ki 23:5 — "And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah..."
The first occurrence already gives the full profile of the word: a priestly class tied to high-place worship, incense service, and syncretistic cult practice removed in Josiah's reform.
Generated from: gather_word_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lexicon, --lookup, --lxx-map, --verses), search_relationships.py, kjv.txt Last updated: 2026-04-29