A voice or sound
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קוֹל (qol) is the Hebrew word for voice and sound — the primary word for auditory experience in the OT, appearing 505 times. It covers every kind of sound: the human voice, the divine voice at Sinai and Horeb, the sevenfold voice of YHWH in the storm of Psalm 29, the still small voice after the fire at Horeb (1 Kgs 19:12), the voice crying in the wilderness of Isaiah 40, and the voice of the beloved in the Song of.
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Full entry for קוֹל (H6963) · Open the biblical lexicon
קוֹל (qol) is the Hebrew word for voice and sound — the primary word for auditory experience in the OT, appearing 505 times. It covers every kind of sound: the human voice, the divine voice at Sinai and Horeb, the sevenfold voice of YHWH in the storm of Psalm 29, the still small voice after the fire at Horeb (1 Kgs 19:12), the voice crying in the wilderness.
The BSB source-word alignment has 506 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (68), the voice (44), the sound (29), my voice (26), voice (22).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (82), Psalms (59), Deuteronomy (38), 1 Samuel (37).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
קוֹל (qol) is the Hebrew word for voice and sound — the primary word for auditory experience in the OT, appearing 505 times. It covers every kind of sound: the human voice, the divine voice at Sinai and Horeb, the sevenfold voice of YHWH in the storm of Psalm 29, the still small voice after the fire at Horeb (1 Kgs 19:12), the voice crying in the wilderness of Isaiah 40, and the voice of the beloved in the Song of Songs. The qol is never merely acoustic — it is always relational and transformative.
Genesis 3:8 gives qol its first theological use and its most haunting context: 'They heard the sound (qol) of YHWH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of YHWH God.' The qol of YHWH was heard before the fall — it was the expected sound of the daily walk together. After the fall, the qol is still heard, but the response has changed: they hide. The first consequence of sin is not that the qol goes silent but that the hearers go into hiding. The entire redemptive story is, in one sense, YHWH's pursuit of people who are hiding from his qol.
Psalm 29 is the OT's great qol text — the sevenfold qol YHWH in the storm: 'The qol of YHWH is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, YHWH, over many waters. The qol of YHWH is powerful (bekhoach); the qol of YHWH is full of majesty (behadar). The qol of YHWH breaks (shever) the cedars... The qol of YHWH flashes forth flames of fire. The qol of YHWH shakes the wilderness. The qol of YHWH makes the deer give birth... In his temple all cry, "Glory!"' Seven attributes and seven effects of the divine qol, structured around the sevenfold repetition of qol YHWH. The qol of YHWH does not merely announce — it acts.
First Kings 19:12 gives qol its most paradoxical form: 'after the fire a still small voice (qol demamah daqah, a voice of gentle stillness or a thin, quiet sound).' Elijah, who fled from Jezebel, encounters YHWH not in the wind that tears mountains (the cherev of Ps 29's qol), not in the earthquake, not in the fire — but in the demamah daqah. The qol YHWH can be the overwhelming sevenfold storm of Psalm 29 or the gentle stillness of Horeb. The theological point is the same: YHWH speaks, and the task is to listen.
Isaiah 40:3 introduces the qol of the herald: 'A qol of one crying: In the wilderness prepare the way of YHWH; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.' The qol is heard before the speaker is identified. All four Gospels apply this qol to John the Baptist (Matt 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23). The qol prepares before the one it announces arrives.
For the preacher, קוֹל (qol) asks the fundamental question of every sermon: are we hiding from YHWH's voice, or are we listening for the still, quiet sound that Elijah needed to hear?
קוֹל (qol) has about 506 occurrences in the local index. Genesis uses it for the qol of YHWH in the garden and the qol of commanded obedience (Gen 3:17). Exodus uses it for the qol at Sinai — the terrifying, transformative voice of covenant. Deuteronomy uses it for the call to hear and obey the qol of YHWH. First Kings uses it for the sevenfold storm-qol and the still small voice.
The Psalms use it for the powerful qol of YHWH in creation (Ps 29) and for the psalmist's own qol in prayer (Ps 3:4, 'I cried to YHWH with my qol'). Isaiah uses it for the wilderness-herald qol and the servant's qol that will not be lifted in the streets (Isa 42:2). The Song uses it for the longed-for qol of the beloved. The word's range — from the storm that breaks cedars to the still small voice — maps the full range of divine communication.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is heard over many waters.
The first of seven qol YHWH: 'the qol of YHWH is over the waters.' The sevenfold structure of Psalm 29 (vv. 3-9) is the OT's most concentrated statement of the divine voice's creative and governing power. The qol YHWH that appeared at creation (Gen 1, 'God said...') is the same qol that governs the storm — the qol that made the waters gathered is the qol that commands them still.
'In his temple all cry, Glory!' (v. 9) — the cosmic qol of the storm ends in the worshipping assembly. The storm's qol directs the hearer to the sanctuary.
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
The qol that is heard but hidden from: the first post-fall response to YHWH's qol is concealment. The qol was not punitive — it was the ordinary sound of the daily divine walk. The hiding reveals the interior state: shame, fear, alienation. But the qol does not stop. YHWH does not withdraw from the garden because they hid — he calls, 'Where are you?' (v. 9).
The qol that pursues the hiding couple is the first form of the divine pursuit that runs through every subsequent redemptive act. The gospel is, among other things, the story of the qol that keeps coming after hiding people.
After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice.
The qol demamah daqah: the still small voice — or, more literally, the voice of gentle stillness, a thin, quiet sound. Elijah has run from Jezebel's threat (v. 3) and collapsed under the broom tree (v. 4). The journey continues and ends at Horeb, where YHWH asks the same question ('What are you doing here, Elijah?') twice (vv. 9, 13). The three great natural phenomena — wind, earthquake, fire — are each told to Elijah: 'YHWH was not in' them.
The qol demamah daqah is the place YHWH is. The preacher's task: the congregation expecting YHWH only in spectacular manifestations may be listening past the still, quiet qol that is actually present.
A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
The herald qol before the King: 'a qol of one crying in the wilderness.' The qol precedes the arrival — it is the preparatory voice, not the destination voice. Isaiah 40:3 begins the great comfort section of Isaiah with a qol, not a king. The qol prepares the way for the revealed glory (v. 5). All four Gospels identify this qol as John the Baptist — the herald whose qol prepared the way for the one who is himself the Word.
The qol of the herald gives way to the Word of God (John 1:14). The pattern is: qol first, then presence.
Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.
The longed-for qol of the beloved: 'the qol of my beloved' — heard before he is seen, before he arrives. The beloved's qol is the anticipatory signal of his presence. The Song of Songs uses qol for the relational communication that crosses distance: the sound of the one who is coming, heard before arrival. The NT applies Song of Songs imagery to Christ and the church in various ways; the qol of the beloved and the waiting of the bride has resonance with John 10:3-4 ('the sheep hear his voice...
The sheep follow him, for they know his voice') and Revelation 22:17 ('Come, Lord Jesus').
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Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Voice as audible communication carrying authority, presence, and divine utterance throughout Scripture.
Voice as audible communication carrying authority, presence, and divine utterance throughout Scripture.
a voice or sound BDB: sound Usage: aloud, bleating, crackling, cry ( out), fame, lightness, lowing, noise, hold peace, (pro-) claim, proclamation, sing, sound, spark, thunder(-ing), voice, yell.
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Showing 1 selected witness from 506 lexical occurrence verses.
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קוֹל (qol) gives the preacher access to the full spectrum of divine communication: from the sevenfold storm-qol of Psalm 29 that breaks cedars to the demamah daqah of 1 Kings 19:12 that comes after the fire. The God who speaks does not speak in one register only. The preacher who only expects the dramatic qol may miss the still, quiet sound; the preacher who only expects the quiet may miss the sevenfold storm.
Genesis 3:8 sets the pastoral challenge: the congregation often hears the qol of YHWH but hides. The question 'Where are you?' (Gen 3:9) is the first pastoral question in Scripture, asked by God to hiding people. The preacher's task is to make it harder to hide. Isaiah 40:3's herald-qol is the homiletical frame: the sermon is a qol preparing the way for the One who arrives.
The preacher is not the destination; the preacher is the herald qol. When preaching feels like crying in a wilderness, Isaiah 40:3 gives it its dignity: the qol in the wilderness has a purpose, even when the soil seems unreceptive. Song of Songs 2:8's 'the qol of my beloved' gives the congregation the posture of listening not as duty but as longing — the beloved's voice is the most welcome sound.
The congregation trained to listen for the qol of their beloved will recognize it when it comes.
Ps.29.3
קוֹל (qol) functions both as 'voice' (the speech of a person or deity) and as 'sound' (a non-verbal noise — the qol of wheels, Ezek 1:24; the qol of thunder, Ps 77:18; the qol of the shofar, Exod 19:16). The phrase 'shema beqol' (to hear/listen to the voice) is the central obedience formula of the covenant: Deut 28:1 ('if you faithfully shema beqol YHWH your God') and 28:15 ('if you will not shema beqol YHWH').
The covenant is framed in terms of qol — obedience is fundamentally qol-responsiveness. The qol demamah daqah of 1 Kings 19:12 is a unique phrase: demamah (H1827, stillness/silence) modified by daqah (H1851, thin/fine) — the thinnest, most delicate sound, on the edge of silence. The NT's phone (G5456) translates qol throughout the LXX. John 10:3-4 — 'the sheep hear his voice (phone); he calls his own sheep by name...
The sheep follow him, for they know his voice (phone)' — is the direct NT application of the qol-recognizing pattern.
The NT's qol-theology runs through John's Gospel and Revelation. John 10's shepherd-sheep phone (voice) discourse is the direct NT heir of YHWH's qol that identifies and calls his people: 'the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out' (John 10:3). The sheep know the voice (phone) and follow — the qol-recognition of the covenant people ('shema beqol YHWH') is now the phone-recognition of the shepherd's voice by those who belong to him.
At the transfiguration, the voice (phone) from the cloud (Matt 17:5, 'This is my beloved Son') is the qol from Sinai's cloud (Exod 19:19) now directed at the Son. Revelation's qol imagery is pervasive: the great voices like thunder (Rev 4:5), the voice of many waters (Rev 1:15, 14:2, 19:6) echoing Psalm 29's qol over the waters, the voice crying 'Holy, holy, holy' (Rev 4:8), and the final invitation-qol of the Spirit and the bride ('Come!'
, Rev 22:17). The eschatological scene of Revelation 21-22 is full of qol: the great voice from the throne (Rev 21:3), 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.' The qol that Adam and Eve hid from (Gen 3:8) is, in the end, the qol that declares their restoration complete.
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