To erect , i.e. create ; by extension, to procure , especially by purchase (causatively, sell ); by implication to own
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קָנָה (qanah) means to acquire, buy, possess, obtain, create, or form. Abraham buys burial land, Jacob purchases a parcel, Jeremiah buys a field as a sign of future restoration, and Ruth 4 records a public redemption transaction.
Reader summary
Full entry for קָנָה (H7069) · Open the biblical lexicon
קָנָה (qanah) means to acquire, buy, possess, obtain, create, or form. Abraham buys burial land, Jacob purchases a parcel, Jeremiah buys a field as a sign of future restoration, and Ruth 4 records a public redemption transaction.
The BSB source-word alignment has 84 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include acquire (3), Buy (3), To buy (3), . . . (2), and buy (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (14), Jeremiah (13), Genesis (12), Leviticus (9).
קָנָה (qanah) means to acquire, buy, possess, obtain, create, or form. Abraham buys burial land, Jacob purchases a parcel, Jeremiah buys a field as a sign of future restoration, and Ruth 4 records a public redemption transaction. Proverbs urges hearers to acquire wisdom and truth, using economic language for costly commitment rather than suggesting that insight is available only to the wealthy.
The verb can describe God's relation to creation and people. Melchizedek blesses God as qanah of heaven and earth, translated Creator or Possessor according to how the construction is understood. Exodus 15:16 and Psalm 74:2 speak of the people God acquired, while Psalm 139:13 uses the verb for God's forming relation to the psalmist's inward parts. Divine possession communicates creation, covenant claim, and care; it does not license human owners to imitate absolute ownership over other people.
Ancient purchase texts include land, goods, debt, and human beings. Genesis 39:1 reports Joseph being bought, Genesis 47 describes Pharaoh acquiring land and labor during famine, Leviticus regulates purchased servants, and Amos 8:6 condemns buying the poor for silver. The verb reports these systems without declaring every transaction just. Proverbs 8:22 is also disputed: qanah may be rendered acquired, possessed, created, or brought forth in wisdom's poem. That verse alone must not settle the doctrine of Christ or the eternal relation of the Son.
Qanah ranges across ordinary purchase, possession, land redemption, wisdom acquisition, divine creation or possession, covenant acquisition, human servitude, and poetic formation.
God is blessed as qanah of heaven and earth, a phrase rendered Creator or Possessor according to lexical and contextual judgment.
Potiphar buys Joseph after trafficking by his brothers, so the transaction is narrated within profound human wrongdoing.
Joseph acquires Egyptian land for Pharaoh during famine, concentrating ownership within a crisis economy.
Jeremiah buys the field with witnessed documents while siege continues, embodying a promise that property will again change hands.
The prophet condemns merchants who seek to buy the poor for silver and manipulate measures and markets.
The lament appeals to God's long-standing acquisition and redemption of the covenant community.
The psalm praises God's intimate forming involvement with the speaker's inward parts.
Personified wisdom speaks of God's relation to her at the beginning of his work; translation and theological use remain disputed.
The imperative to acquire truth, wisdom, discipline, and understanding treats them as worth sacrifice and not for resale.
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. Acquisition through creation or purchase; foundational to ownership and possession in covenant relationships.
Acquisition through creation or purchase; foundational to ownership and possession in covenant relationships.
to erect, i.e. create; by extension, to procure, especially by purchase (causatively, sell); by implication to own BDB: get Usage: attain, buy(-er), teach to keep cattle, get, provoke to jealousy, possess(-or), purchase, recover, redeem, × surely, × verily.
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 2 selected witnesses from 86 lexical occurrence verses.
קָנָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The term expresses wisdom's relationship to God's creative work and authority. Isaiah 11:11-16
The term underscores divine initiative in regathering the remnant. Proverbs 8:22-31
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Qanah asks how possession was obtained, whom it benefits, and what obligations accompany it. Scripture can describe honest land purchase, costly pursuit of wisdom, covenant acquisition, trafficking, debt concentration, and exploitation with the same verb. Amos condemns a market that buys the poor, and Joseph's purchase follows betrayal and enslavement. Churches should never turn biblical purchase language into approval of slavery, proprietary marriage, labor exploitation, or treating donors and members as assets.
God's possession of people is grounded in creation and redemption, not coercive imitation by leaders. Proverbs 8:22 deserves special humility: its disputed translation cannot bear a stand-alone argument that the Son is created or that orthodox questions are settled by one Hebrew gloss.
Gen.14.19
H7069 is a verb spanning acquisition, purchase, possession, creation, and formation. Translation depends on subject, object, construction, and genre. The lexical range does not merge all ownership relationships or settle the personification of wisdom.
The New Testament speaks of creation through the Son, a people purchased for God, redemption, stewardship, and condemnation of slave trading. Those themes require their own texts and should not be reduced to one translation of qanah.
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