Lexical Summary
keph: Rock, Stone
Original Word: כֵּף
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: keph
Pronunciation: kayf
Phonetic Spelling: (kafe)
KJV: rock
NASB: rocks
Word Origin: [from H3721 (כָּפַף - bowed down)]
1. a hollow rock
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
rock
From kaphaph; a hollow rock -- rock.
see HEBREW kaphaph
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originperhaps of foreign origin
Definitiona rock
NASB Translationrocks (2).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
[] (Assyrian
kâpu Dl
HWB 346; Aramaic ,
👁 Image perhaps Aramaic loan-word in Hebrew; √ dubious); — only plural
Jeremiah 4:29 as place of refuge;
Job 30:6 as dwelling-place.
Topical Lexicon
Root Imagery and Conceptual Overview The term portrays a natural hollow hewn by God’s hand—an enclosure within rock or earth that may function either as refuge or as symbol of humiliation and judgment. In both canonical occurrences the word stands at the intersection of vulnerability and survival, reminding readers that what shelters can also expose the dire plight of fallen humanity.
Occurrences and Context
1. Job 30:6 – The once-honored Job recounts how social outcasts “were forced to live in the dry streambeds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.”
2. Jeremiah 4:29 – Judah, hearing the approach of invading armies, “enter the thickets and climb among the rocks; every city is deserted; no inhabitant remains.”
Thematic Significance in Job
Job contrasts his former dignity with the degraded existence of men driven to inhabit earth’s cavities. The cave becomes a literary canvas illustrating the distance between blessing and curse, civilization and desolation. It underscores that human honor is contingent, while divine sovereignty remains fixed.
Prophetic Resonance in Jeremiah
Jeremiah employs the same image to depict covenant-breaking Judah scrambling into rugged recesses as the Babylonian threat looms. The geographical detail amplifies the spiritual one: when people abandon the Lord their cities empty, forcing them into makeshift shelters that cannot resist divine chastening.
Biblical Theology of Caves and Holes
Scripture often situates caves at pivotal moments:
• Lot and his daughters, Genesis 19:30.
• David hiding from Saul, 1 Samuel 24:3.
• Elijah meeting the still small voice, 1 Kings 19:9.
• Saints of whom “the world was not worthy…destitute, afflicted, mistreated,” Hebrews 11:37-38.
Together these passages reveal the dual character of the cave—as sanctuary prepared by God for His faithful and as grim dwelling of those under judgment.
Historical and Cultural Background
Ancient Near Eastern topography offered countless limestone hollows along wadis and escarpments. Such spaces were used for tombs, cisterns, bandit lairs, and emergency hideouts. Their limited light and confined air made long-term habitation undesirable, reinforcing the biblical association with deprivation.
Ministry Implications
Pastoral application draws a straight line from outward refuges to Christ the ultimate Rock. Earthly caves provide temporary shelter yet cannot shield from sin’s penalty; believers are summoned to find lasting security “in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:9). At the same time, the image cautions against complacency: a people that forsakes God may discover that even the most secure stronghold becomes a prison of fear.
Christological and Redemptive Trajectory
The Gospels culminate the motif when the crucified Messiah is laid in a rock-hewn tomb, only to emerge victorious (Matthew 28:6). Thus the darkest cavity of death is transformed into the birthplace of resurrection hope, reversing the sorrowful overtones seen in Job and Jeremiah.
Practical Application
• When hardship drives believers into figurative “holes,” they may remember that God met Elijah there and spoke peace.
• Evangelism can employ the image to illustrate humanity’s instinctive but insufficient hiding from divine holiness, pointing instead to the secure refuge of the gospel.
• Corporate repentance, as urged by Jeremiah, remains the preventative against national descent into fear-ridden shelters.
In summary, Strong’s 3710 gathers the Bible’s cave imagery into a concise symbol: a physical recess that mirrors the spiritual condition of all who flee either toward or away from God.
Forms and Transliterations
וְכֵפִֽים׃ וּבַכֵּפִ֖ים ובכפים וכפים׃ ū·ḇak·kê·p̄îm ūḇakkêp̄îm uvakkeFim vecheFim wə·ḵê·p̄îm wəḵêp̄îm
Links
Interlinear Greek •
Interlinear Hebrew •
Strong's Numbers •
Englishman's Greek Concordance •
Englishman's Hebrew Concordance •
Parallel Texts
