the Fourth Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Small
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Adjectives.
Qâṭân (קָטֹן, Strong's #6996), “small; youngest”; qâṭôn (קָטֹן, Strong's #6996), “small; young; insignificant.” These adjectives are synonymous. Both occur in all periods of biblical Hebrew—qâṭân, 47 times; qâṭôn, 56 times.
Qâṭôn in its first appearance means “small and insignificant”: “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night …” (Gen. 1:16). The first appearance of qâṭân bears the sense “youngest”: “And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him” (Gen. 9:24).
In their first nuance, “small,” the words are often contrasted to gadol, “great”: “And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord …” (2 Chron. 36:18). Other uses of the words to mean “small” include their application to the size of a set of weights (Deut. 25:13), to the size of the smallest finger of one’s hand (1 King 12:10), and to the degree of seriousness of a given sin (Num. 22:18).
In the sense “young” these words refer to the relative age of an individual: “And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid …” (2 Kings 5:2). Notice 2 Kings 5:14: “Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child.…” In a related use the word is comparative, contrasting the age of a given individual with that of his sibling(s): “Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither” (Gen. 42:15).
Finally, these adjectives can represent the idea “insignificant,” or small in importance or strength: “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great …” (Deut. 1:17). In a related nuance qâṭôn signifies “low in social standing”: “When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel …?” (1 Sam. 15:17). In Exod. 18:22 the word suggests triviality: “And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge.…”
B. Verb.
Qâṭôn means “to be small, insignificant.” This verb occurs 4 times in biblical Hebrew and emphasizes smallness in quality or quantity. The word refers to “being insignificant” in Gen. 32:10: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant …” (cf. 2 Sam. 7:19, NASB). In Amos 8:5, qâṭôn refers to “making small.”
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Small'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/s/small.html. 1940.
