כָּלָה (kālāh) is a Hebrew verb for reaching an end. Depending on its form and object, something may be finished or completed, strength or supply may fail, or an agent may consume or bring something to an end.
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Full entry for כָּלָה (H3615) · Open the biblical lexicon
כָּלָה (kālāh) is a Hebrew verb for reaching an end. Depending on its form and object, something may be finished or completed, strength or supply may fail, or an agent may consume or bring something to an end.
The BSB source-word alignment has 207 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include had finished (20), fail (6), finished (4), and vent (3), they are finished off (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (23), 2 Chronicles (17), Ezekiel (17), Genesis (17).
H3615 is a Hebrew verb for reaching an end. Depending on its form and object, something may be finished or completed, strength or supply may fail, or an agent may consume or bring something to an end. Genesis 2:1 says the heavens and earth were completed in all their array. Exodus 40:33 states that Moses finished the tabernacle work. Psalm 73:26 acknowledges that flesh and heart may fail while God remains the psalmist's strength and portion.
Lamentations 3:22 uses a negative construction to confess that the people are not consumed because of the Lord's loving devotion. The range includes successful completion, exhaustion, disappearance, destruction, and consumption, so the surrounding grammar is decisive. H3615 helps teachers honor faithful completion without worshiping productivity. Some work reaches its intended end; some resources run out; bodies and courage can fail; judgment texts can speak of consuming destruction.
Human limits are not automatically moral failure, and biblical completion does not justify pushing workers, caregivers, or sufferers beyond safety.
H3615 moves across completed creation, finished craftsmanship, depleted food, fulfilled speech, exhausted strength, and consuming judgment. Its broad end-point range requires attention to subject, object, verbal form, and whether the passage celebrates completion or laments loss.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
The creation account declares the heavens and earth completed in their vast array, marking the finished ordering that leads into God's seventh-day rest.
And Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and he hung the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.
Moses finishes the tabernacle work after carrying out the commanded construction, and the following glory of the Lord confirms the project's covenant purpose.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
The psalmist admits that flesh and heart may fail while confessing God as enduring strength and portion, allowing embodied limitation inside faith rather than outside it.
Because of the loving devotion of the Lord we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
A negative form declares that the afflicted community is not consumed because the Lord's loving devotion and mercies have not ended, placing survival within sustained lament.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Denotes completion or cessation with often destructive finality; encompasses both natural ending and violent destruction or consumption.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 205 lexical occurrence verses.
כָּלָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H3615 teaches that endings are not all alike. Genesis 2 celebrates a created work that reaches its intended completeness and opens into divine rest. Exodus 40 similarly records a human work finished according to command, after which God's glory fills the tabernacle. These passages can dignify faithful closure, careful craftsmanship, and the humility to say a task is complete.
Other texts prevent completion language from becoming a cult of achievement. Psalm 73 admits that flesh and heart may fail. The confession does not deny bodily decline or emotional depletion; it locates enduring hope in God as strength and portion. Lamentations 3 uses the verb under negation: amid devastation, the people are not consumed because the Lord's loving devotion remains.
The book's grief remains real, so mercy is not a slogan that declares the losses harmless. H3615 also appears in severe judgment contexts where people or things are consumed, and those texts must not be casually transferred to personal enemies. Pastoral wisdom therefore asks what kind of ending is present. Some assignments should be completed; some destructive practices should end; some resources need replenishment; some bodies require rest; some losses must be mourned.
Churches honor completion when they define responsible scope, share labor, permit Sabbath and disability accommodations, and refuse to sacrifice people to the appearance of finishing.
Ps.73.26
H3615 is a Hebrew verb with intransitive and transitive uses. It can mean be finished, cease, fail, or perish, and in causative or intensive settings complete or consume. Negation can reverse the pastoral force, as in not being consumed.
New Testament completion language gathers around fulfilled assignments, Christ's finished work, perseverance, mortality, and God's promised renewal. Those themes can be traced canonically, but H3615 itself does not make every finished human project an image of atonement or guarantee that faithful workers complete every desired task.