The hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); figuratively, power
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The Hebrew noun kaph commonly names the palm or hollow of the hand, but its shape allows several related uses. It may refer to the sole of a foot, an animal's paw, a spoon or bowl, the curved branch of a palm tree, or a handle.
Reader summary
Full entry for כַּף (H3709) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew noun kaph commonly names the palm or hollow of the hand, but its shape allows several related uses. It may refer to the sole of a foot, an animal's paw, a spoon or bowl, the curved branch of a palm tree, or a handle.
The BSB source-word alignment has 193 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (14), dish (12), my hands (12), from the hand (11), his hands (9).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 8:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (21), Numbers (20), Leviticus (14), Isaiah (13).
The Hebrew noun kaph commonly names the palm or hollow of the hand, but its shape allows several related uses. It may refer to the sole of a foot, an animal's paw, a spoon or bowl, the curved branch of a palm tree, or a handle. In expressions about being in someone's hand, it can contribute to language of possession, control, rescue, or vulnerability. Biblical writers also describe lifted or spread palms in prayer, open hands in giving, and hands marked by labor or guilt.
The word itself does not prove sincerity, authority, or innocence. Responsible teaching attends to the bodily action, the agent, and the relational setting, honoring embodied worship while refusing to turn a gesture into a spiritual technique or a person's body into an object of judgment.
Kaph usually points to a hollow or curved surface such as a palm or sole, and it can extend to bowls, handles, branches, and figurative possession or power. Context controls the image.
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,
Solomon spreads his palms toward heaven while addressing the covenant Lord, so the gesture accompanies public prayer rather than generating divine attention.
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
Zion is pictured as engraved on the Lord's palms, a poetic assurance that the abandoned city is neither forgotten nor hidden from His care.
You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.
The psalmist is enclosed behind and before with God's palm laid upon him, expressing comprehensive divine knowledge and presence rather than physical anatomy.
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. the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); figuratively, power
the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); figuratively, power BDB: hollow Usage: branch, foot, hand((-ful), -dle, (-led)), hollow, middle, palm, paw, power, sole, spoon.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
כַּף is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Kaph reminds teachers that Scripture speaks through ordinary bodies without despising embodiment. Palms receive, hold, give, strike, work, and open in prayer. Soles stand, travel, and mark the limits of human movement. When Solomon spreads his palms, his prayer depends on God's covenant faithfulness, not the perfection of a pose. When Isaiah pictures Zion engraved on God's palms, the image answers the fear of being forgotten with durable covenant remembrance.
Psalm 139 uses God's enclosing hand to confess a presence no creature can escape and no sufferer needs to manufacture. The same bodily language can also expose violence, exploitation, or bloodguilt elsewhere, so application must follow the action named in the passage. Congregations may pray with embodied freedom, offer practical help with open hands, and protect people whose bodies have been harmed.
No gesture should be policed as a universal measure of reverence, and no appeal to power should erase consent, weakness, disability, or accountability.
1Kgs.8.22
Kaph is organized around a hollow or curved shape, but its contextual referent varies widely. Translators may choose palm, hand, sole, paw, bowl, handle, or branch, and figurative power must be established by the surrounding construction rather than imported everywhere.
New Testament hand language continues the Bible's embodied witness through healing, service, arrest, crucifixion, blessing, generosity, and shared work. The risen Christ's bodily life confirms that redemption does not discard creation, while His authority prevents gestures or human touch from becoming independent sources of grace.