H7045 — קְלָלָה (qelalah)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7045
Original: קְלָלָה
Transliteration: qelalah
Pronunciation: kel-aw-law
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: קָלַל (qalal, H7043) — to be light, to be trifling, to curse
Occurrences: 33 unique verses (34 tokens) across 12 books
First Occurrence: Gen 27:12 — "I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H7043 (qalal); vilification — (ac-)curse(-d, -ing).

The noun denotes the state or content of being cursed. Derived from the root qalal ("to be light, trifling, contemptible"), it carries the sense of making someone or something insignificant, despised, or subject to divine disfavor. Distinguished from H423 alah (oath-curse / imprecation) and H3994 meerah (execration).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
a curse	6	18.2%
and a curse	8	24.2%
the curse	5	15.2%
curse	2	6.1%
curses	2	6.1%
cursing / and cursing	2	6.1%
accursed	1	3.0%
and cursings	1	3.0%
Other phrases	6	18.2%

Virtually all occurrences render as "curse" or "cursing" — the translation is remarkably uniform.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Deuteronomy	11	1.1
Jeremiah	9	0.7
Psalms	2	0.1
Proverbs	2	0.2
Genesis	2	0.1
2 Kings	1	0.1
1 Kings	1	0.1
2 Samuel	1	0.1
Judges	1	0.2
Joshua	1	0.2
Nehemiah	1	0.2
Zechariah	1	0.5

Deuteronomy (33%) and Jeremiah (27%) together account for 60% of all uses. The word is overwhelmingly covenant-legal and prophetic. Absent from the Pentateuchal narratives outside Genesis 27 and from all wisdom literature except Proverbs. Not used in Ezekiel, Isaiah, or the Minor Prophets (except Zechariah once).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Covenant Curse — Conditional Consequence of Disobedience¶

The dominant usage. In the Deuteronomic framework, qelalah is the negative pole of the blessing-curse alternative placed before Israel. - Deut 11:26 — "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse" - Deut 11:28 — "And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God" - Deut 28:15 — "all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee" - Deut 30:19 — "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life"

2. Status of Disgrace — Becoming a Byword Among Nations¶

Jeremiah uses qelalah as a term of national shame: Israel or other nations become "a curse" — an object lesson of what divine judgment looks like. - Jer 24:9 — "a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them" - Jer 26:6 — "I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth" - Jer 42:18 — "ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach" - Jer 44:22 — "your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant"

3. Divine Reversal — Curse Turned to Blessing¶

A recurrent motif where God overrides an intended or operative curse. - Deut 23:5 — "the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee" - Neh 13:2 — "our God turned the curse into a blessing" - Zech 8:13 — "as ye were a curse among the heathen... so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing"

4. Personal Curse — Interpersonal Vilification¶

Used for curses between individuals, including the patriarchal narrative and Shimei's abuse of David. - Gen 27:12 — "I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing" - Gen 27:13 — "Upon me be thy curse, my son" - 1 Ki 2:8 — "Shimei... which cursed me with a grievous curse" - 2 Sam 16:12 — "the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day"

5. Curse as Moral Principle¶

Wisdom and liturgical uses treating curse as a general principle. - Prov 26:2 — "the curse causeless shall not come" - Prov 27:14 — "He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice... it shall be counted a curse to him" - Psa 109:17 — "As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him"

6. Theological Liability — The Hanged¶

The unique Deut 21:23 declaration that the exposed corpse is "accursed of God." - Deut 21:23 — "he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thy land be not defiled"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	15x (45%)	"the curse of the LORD"; YHWH as source of covenant curses
בְּרָכָה (berakah)	H1293	10x (30%)	"blessing and curse" — the covenant pair set before Israel
אֱלֹהִים (elohim)	H430	11x (33%)	"accursed of God" (Deut 21:23); God as agent of curse
בּוֹא (bo)	H935	13x (39%)	"curses shall come upon thee" — curses arriving as consequence
שַׁמָּה (shammah)	H8047	6x (18%)	"desolation and a curse" — judgment word-cluster in Jeremiah
חֶרְפָּה (cherpah)	H2781	5x (15%)	"reproach and a curse" — disgrace word-cluster in Jeremiah
שָׁמַע (shama)	H8085	6x (18%)	"if ye will not hearken... curse" — disobedience trigger
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	8x (24%)	"I set before you... a curse" — divine placement of covenant terms

Word Family / Cognates¶

H7043 קָלַל (qalal) — root verb: to be light, trifling, to curse (6 verses as "curse" in KJV)
H7031 קַל (qal) — adjective: swift, light (from same root, different semantic branch)

Synonyms¶

(No SDBH-curated synonyms found; these are the domain neighbors from the Curse semantic field.) - H423 אָלָה (alah) — oath-curse, imprecation, self-maledictory oath - H779 אָרַר (arar) — to curse (primitive root; binding, banning sense) - H3994 מְאֵרָה (meerah) — curse, execration (from H779 arar) - H2194 זָעַם (zaam) — to be indignant, to curse

Antonyms¶

H1293 בְּרָכָה (berakah) — blessing, benediction (the direct covenant opposite; paired with qelalah 10 times)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
אָלָה (alah)	H423	"a curse," "the curse"	alah = oath-bound curse, self-imprecation; qelalah = vilification, status of being despised
מְאֵרָה (meerah)	H3994	"a curse"	meerah = execration from H779 arar (banning); qelalah = from qalal (making light/contemptible)
חֵרֶם (cherem)	H2764	"curse" (once)	cherem = devotion to destruction (ban); qelalah = vilification/disgrace
אָרַר (arar)	H779	"curse" (verb)	arar = to bind with a curse; qalal/qelalah = to make contemptible

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
κατάρα (katara) G2671	26x	9.08	Primary equivalent — overwhelmingly dominant
εὐλογία (eulogia) G2129	10x	6.77	In blessing-curse pair contexts; translates berakah in same verse
ὀνειδισμός (oneidismos) G3680	5x	6.16	"Reproach" — in Jeremiah disgrace clusters
ἀρά (ara) G685	3x	6.25	Alternative Greek curse-noun
καταράομαι (kataraomai) G2672	3x	5.45	Verb form of katara

The LXX renders qelalah as katara (G2671) in 26 of 33 occurrences (79%), making this one of the tightest Hebrew-Greek lexical bridges in the curse vocabulary. This is the mapping behind Gal 3:10-13 quoting Deut 27:26 and 21:23.