Kala means “restrict” — full meaning, definition, and every linked Bible usage across the indexed canon.
Same number, other testament: Strong's G3607 — othone (“sheet”) in the Greek Bible.
Strong's H3607 כָּלָא (kala') is a Hebrew Strong's word-study entry. kala' (kaw-law') v. 1. to restrict, by act (hold back or in) or word (prohibit) [a primitive root] It has 17 linked Bible usages across 11 books. Visible English usage signals include restrained, withhold, forbid, refrained, and word. Indexed coverage on this page includes Old Testament.
kala' (kaw-law') v. 1. to restrict, by act (hold back or in) or word (prohibit) [a primitive root] KJV: finish, forbid, keep (back), refrain, restrain, retain, shut up, be stayed, withhold.
How independent scholarly lexicons define Strong's H3607. Each definition is shown with its source so you can compare and cite the original reference works.
to restrain
Usage: 1) to restrict, restrain, withhold, shut up, keep back, refrain, forbid 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to shut up 1a2) to restrain 1a3) to withhold 1b) (Niphal) to be restrained 1c) (Piel) to finish
The English word each shown verse actually uses to render kala', taken from the interlinear word alignment (the same word underlined in the excerpts below). Where a rendering is used more than once, the count is shown.
Indexed coverage includes Old Testament. Each section below keeps corpus counts and sample passages visible so readers can compare the word across contexts instead of reading one flat concordance list.
Indexed usage grouped by testament and extended corpus so readers can compare this word across the Bible, Septuagint, deuterocanonical books, and 1 Enoch where present.
17 indexed usages in Old Testament.
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
First 17 linked usage excerpts for Strong's H3607.
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:
And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.
For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
Every indexed verse link for Strong's H3607, grouped by book.
Kala (Strong's H3607) is a Hebrew word most simply glossed "restrict". kala' (kaw-law') v. 1. to restrict, by act (hold back or in) or word (prohibit) [a primitive root]
This page currently indexes 17 linked usages for Strong's H3607 across 11 books.
Use the linked verse references on this page to study Strong's H3607 in context. The indexed coverage includes Old Testament.
The visible usage excerpts most often surface English words such as restrained, withhold, forbid, refrained, word, and back. These are scanning signals from the displayed verses, not replacements for the original-language definition.