Bible word study

Kamar (Strong’s H3648): Meaning in the Bible

Kamar (כָּמַר) is the Hebrew word numbered H3648 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to intertwine or contract, i.e. (by implication) to shrivel (as with heat); figuratively, to be deeply affected with passion (love or pity). In the King James Bible it is translated be black, be kindled, yearn..

• Original wordכָּמַר
• Transliterationkâmar
• Pronunciationkaw-mar'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH3648
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Kamar appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Kamar (H3648) stands behind 4 English renderings in 4 verses across 4 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Genesis (1), 1 Kings (1), Lamentations (1).

How the King James Bible renders Kamar, by count

• black1 of 4 (25 percent)
• kindled1 of 4 (25 percent)
• yearn1 of 4 (25 percent)
• yearned1 of 4 (25 percent)

Three places to read Kamar

• Genesis 43:30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.
• 1 Kings 3:26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
• Lamentations 5:10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Kamar in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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