To be (causatively, make ) light , literally ( swift , small , sharp , etc.) or figuratively ( easy , trifling , vile , etc.)
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H7043 is a Hebrew verb whose basic image is lightness rather than weight. It can describe waters receding, a burden becoming lighter, swift movement, treating someone as insignificant, or calling down a curse.
Reader summary
Full entry for קָלַל (H7043) · Open the biblical lexicon
H7043 is a Hebrew verb whose basic image is lightness rather than weight. It can describe waters receding, a burden becoming lighter, swift movement, treating someone as insignificant, or calling down a curse.
The BSB source-word alignment has 82 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include curse (6), are swifter (4), curses (2), had receded (2), he yelled curses (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 8:8. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Samuel (11), Leviticus (7), Genesis (6), Isaiah (6).
H7043 is a Hebrew verb whose basic image is lightness rather than weight. It can describe waters receding, a burden becoming lighter, swift movement, treating someone as insignificant, or calling down a curse. Second Chronicles 10:4 uses it when Israel asks Rehoboam to lighten the heavy service imposed by Solomon. First Samuel 2:30 places honoring God opposite those who despise Him and will therefore be lightly esteemed.
In Genesis 8:8 Noah sends the dove to learn whether the floodwaters have receded. Other settings speak of swift horses, trivial matters, contemptible conduct, and hostile curses. H7043 therefore opens material weight, speed, relief, diminished honor, and destructive speech. It corrects readings that collapse every occurrence into cursing or that treat people as disposable under the cover of making ministry, work, or leadership more efficient.
H7043 gathers senses related to becoming or making light: less weight, less intensity, swift motion, lesser esteem, contempt, and cursing. The object, speaker, social setting, and result determine whether lightness brings relief, describes movement, or communicates dishonor.
“Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you must lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
The people ask Rehoboam to lighten the burdensome service imposed by his father, placing the verb in a labor and leadership dispute.
Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the Lord declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.
God contrasts those who honor Him with those who despise Him and will be treated as lightly esteemed.
Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground.
Noah sends a dove to test whether the floodwaters have receded from the ground.
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. Core semantic shift from physical lightness to moral degradation; cursing involves making someone light or worthless.
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 4 selected witnesses from 82 lexical occurrence verses.
קָלַל 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.
H7043 shows that lightness is not automatically good or bad. A load made lighter may protect people from crushing service. Waters that recede make the earth habitable again. Swiftness can describe strength and movement. Yet treating a person, promise, or command as light can become contempt, and hostile speech can invoke harm. Rehoboam's refusal to lighten forced service warns leaders who hear a clear account of burden yet intensify it to display authority.
Eli's house shows that sacred position does not excuse treating God lightly. These contexts invite churches and families to ask whose work, grief, or testimony has been minimized. Relief should not mean quietly shifting weight onto less powerful people, and honor should not mean protecting office from accountability. Faithful burden-bearing listens, measures material cost, changes harmful demands, and refuses contempt.
The verb's breadth rewards careful interpretation because the same image can name mercy for the burdened or degradation of the person deemed unimportant.
2Chr.10.4
H7043 is a verb with a broad network of senses built around lightness. Depending on stem and context it can mean become light, lessen, move swiftly, regard lightly, despise, or curse. Translation must follow the grammatical construction and affected object.
The prophets condemn rulers and worshipers who treat covenant responsibilities lightly, while Jesus calls the weary to His yoke and teaches leaders to serve. The New Testament also treats contemptuous speech seriously without confusing every hard rebuke with a curse.