What does כִּלְיָה (kelayot) mean in the Bible?
Kidneys may name animal organs in offering instructions or the inward life, distress and formation described by poetry. Exodus specifies kidneys and their fat among the bull's portions.
Hebrew · H3629
כִּלְיָה
Kidneys may name animal organs in offering instructions or the inward life, distress and formation described by poetry. Exodus specifies kidneys and their fat among the bull's portions.
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כִּלְיָהH3629
Pronunciationkelayot
What does כִּלְיָה (kelayot) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for כִּלְיָה (H3629) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3629?
The BSB source-word alignment has 31 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include kidneys (9), the kidneys (6), my inmost being (2), my kidneys (2), the heart (2).
Where does כִּלְיָה (kelayot) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 29:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (14), Psalms (5), Jeremiah (4), Exodus (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Kidneys may name animal organs in offering instructions or the inward life, distress and formation described by poetry. Exodus specifies kidneys and their fat among the bull's portions. Jeremiah says the Lord searches the heart and examines the mind within His judgment of a person's ways. Psalm 16 speaks of inward instruction at night, Proverbs of inward rejoicing over right speech, and Lamentations of arrows piercing the speaker's kidneys in a severe lament.
Psalm 139 addresses the Lord's forming of the inmost being in the womb. These uses do not give a modern anatomical account of thought or make every feeling an infallible divine message. Read the actual organ or poetic referent and the speaker's purpose. A congregation can hear inward pain and rejoice over truth without diagnosing disease, claiming access to another person's hidden motives or treating a bodily image as a verdict of guilt.
How the Bible Uses It
Literal offering organs differ from poetic instruction, rejoicing, piercing pain, inward formation and the Lord's examination. Renal vocabulary does not make a modern anatomy lesson or grant a leader knowledge of hidden motives.
- Exod.29.13
Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.
Kidneys and their fat are named among the animal portions burned on the altar in the ordination instructions.
- Jer.17.10
I, the Lord, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
The Lord names His searching and examination within the stated giving according to each person's ways and deeds.
- Ps.16.7
I will bless the Lord who counsels me; even at night my conscience instructs me.
The speaker blesses the Lord's counsel and describes inward instruction at night within his trust and hope.
- Prov.23.16
My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
The speaker's inmost being rejoices when the addressed child's lips speak what is right.
- Lam.3.13
He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
The lamenting speaker describes arrows piercing his kidneys within the account of felt affliction and subsequent hope.
- Ps.139.13
For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
The speaker attributes the forming of his inmost being and knitting in the womb to the Lord.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itkidneys9×Exodus 29:13, Exodus 29:22, Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:10
the kidneys6×Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:10, Leviticus 3:15, Leviticus 4:9
my inmost being2×Psalms 139:13, Proverbs 23:16
my kidneys2×Job 16:13, Lamentations 3:13
the heart2×Jeremiah 11:20, Jeremiah 20:12
and minds1×Psalms 7:9
from their hearts1×Jeremiah 12:2
grains1×Deuteronomy 32:14
How my heart1×Job 19:27
my conscience1×Psalms 16:7
my heart1×Psalms 26:2
of the kidneys1×Isaiah 34:6
the entrails, the kidneys1×Leviticus 9:19
the mind1×Jeremiah 17:10
within1×Psalms 73:21
Show sample aligned rows
Exodus 29:13הַכְּלָיֹ֔תtokidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralExodus 29:22הַכְּלָיֹ֗תtokidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 3:4הַכְּלָיֹ֔תtokidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 3:4הַכְּלָי֖וֹתtothe kidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 3:10הַכְּלָיֹ֔תtokidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 3:10הַכְּלָיֹ֖תtothe kidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 3:15הַכְּלָיֹ֔תtokidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 3:15הַכְּלָיֹ֖תtothe kidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 4:9הַכְּלָיֹ֔תtokidneysArticle | Noun - feminine pluralLeviticus 4:9הַכְּלָי֖וֹתtothe kidneysArticle | Noun - feminine plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowExodus 29:13
Aligned rows31
Books represented9
Exodus2Leviticus14Deuteronomy1Job2Psalms5Proverbs1Isaiah1Jeremiah4Lamentations1
Source forms
הַכְּלָיֹ֔ת6xhak·kə·lā·yōṯExodus 29:13, Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:10, Leviticus 3:15
הַכְּלָיֹ֖ת5xhak·kə·lā·yōṯLeviticus 3:10, Leviticus 3:15, Leviticus 7:4, Leviticus 8:16
הַכְּלָי֖וֹת2xhak·kə·lā·yō·wṯLeviticus 3:4, Leviticus 4:9
כִּלְי֣וֹת2xkil·yō·wṯDeuteronomy 32:14, Isaiah 34:6
בְּכִלְיוֹתָ֔י1xbə·ḵil·yō·w·ṯāyLamentations 3:13
הַכְּלָיֹ֗ת1xhak·kə·lā·yōṯExodus 29:22
הַכְּלָיֹ֜ת1xhak·kə·lā·yōṯLeviticus 9:10
וְהַכְּלָיֹ֔ת1xwə·hak·kə·lā·yōṯLeviticus 9:19
Parsing patterns
Article | Noun - feminine plural15xExodus 29:13, Exodus 29:22, Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:10
Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular6xJob 16:13, Job 19:27, Psalms 16:7, Psalms 26:2
Noun - feminine plural3xJeremiah 11:20, Jeremiah 17:10, Jeremiah 20:12
Noun - feminine plural construct2xDeuteronomy 32:14, Isaiah 34:6
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural1xPsalms 7:9
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular1xPsalms 73:21
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine plural1xLeviticus 9:19
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular1xLamentations 3:13
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Hear inward distress without demanding a spiritual or medical diagnosis from its poetic wording.
- Examine conduct responsibly while allowing people to explain their own thoughts and experiences.
Avoid claiming...
- Kidney imagery cannot provide a modern anatomy of thought or diagnose a person's disease and guilt.
- The noun cannot make every feeling God's voice or confer omniscience about hidden motives on a leader.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Kidneys as seat of inner emotions and moral consciousness, especially in covenantal loyalty and divine testing.
Source Gloss
a kidney (as an essential organ ); figuratively, the mind (as the interior self)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Kidneys as seat of inner emotions and moral consciousness, especially in covenantal loyalty and divine testing.
a kidney (as an essential organ); figuratively, the mind (as the interior self) BDB: kidneys Usage: kidneys, reins.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
My kidneys; the seat of emotions, conscience, and the inmost being
Reins, kidneys; the seat of deep emotions and hidden thoughts
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 31 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
כִּלְיָה is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Kidney vocabulary asks for a careful transition between literal organs and poetic inwardness. Exodus lists animal kidneys and fat among the offering portions. Jeremiah attributes searching and examination to the Lord and ties His judgment to ways and deeds; it does not give a present leader that knowledge. Psalm 16's inward instruction belongs to trust and the Lord's counsel rather than a universal rule that every night-time feeling is divine speech.
Proverbs rejoices over a child's right words. Lamentations uses piercing arrows to name felt affliction before the chapter's remembered compassion and hope. Psalm 139 addresses the forming of the speaker's inmost being in the womb without supplying a modern account of organ development. A congregation should hear these different purposes openly. It can attend to inward pain and moral responsibility without diagnosing bodily disease, treating a feeling as infallible guidance or claiming supernatural knowledge of another person's thoughts.
Anchor passage
Jer.17.10
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus' kidneys are literal animal portions within the specified ordination offering.
- Jeremiah attributes searching and examination to the Lord within judgment of ways and deeds.
- Psalm 16 places inward instruction alongside the Lord's counsel and the speaker's trust.
- Proverbs' inward rejoicing responds to the addressed child's speech that is right.
- Lamentations' pierced kidneys belong to a severe lament that continues into remembered compassion.
- Psalm 139 praises the Lord's forming work through the speaker's womb and inward-being language.
The tagged plural kidney forms and the artifact's existing transliteration kelayot are preserved without changing its singular lemma. Thirty-one BSB tokens in twenty-six verses remain separate from canonical thirty-one; literal organs and poetic inward renderings follow their contexts rather than a modern anatomical theory or a new canonical sense assignment.
From Old to New Testament
Revelation 2:18-29 attributes searching minds and hearts to the Son of God within His message, examination of deeds and calls to repentance and endurance. This is a canonical inward-examination comparison, not an occurrence of the Hebrew noun or permission for a present leader to claim divine omniscience about another person's motives.