ESTUDIO DE LA PALABRA HEBREA
Kîy (כִּי) — Meaning & Usage in the Bible
כִּי (kîy) is the standard Hebrew conjunction used to mark causal, explanatory, or content clauses, often translated 'that,' 'because,' or 'for.'
Significado de la palabra
כִּי (kîy) is a high-frequency grammatical particle rather than a content word. Its core function is to link clauses, and its precise force — causal ('because,' 'for'), declarative ('that'), or emphatic ('surely,' 'indeed') — is determined by context and by adjoining particles.
Its translation is highly elastic: the KJV list includes 'that,' 'because,' 'for,' 'when,' 'if,' 'though,' 'surely,' 'therefore,' 'doubtless,' and many more. In practice the same Hebrew word flexibly serves as a relative conjunction, a subordinator for noun clauses, and a reinforcing adverb.
Because it carries no lexical meaning of its own, כִּי is best understood as a hinge: it signals that the following clause explains, grounds, or reports the preceding statement, so the reader should ask whether the relation is one of cause, evidence, content, or emphasis.
Uso en las Escrituras
In the early chapters of Genesis, כִּי repeatedly follows the divine evaluation formula 'God saw that it was good' (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), where it introduces the content clause stating what God saw — glossed 'that.' In the same book it also marks causal clauses, as in Gen 2:3 ('because that in it he rested'), 2:5 ('for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain'), and 2:17 ('for in the day that thou eatest thereof').
Elsewhere כִּי functions as an emphatic or assertive particle. Gen 3:1 renders it 'really' in the serpent's question 'Yea, hath God said...?' — using כִּי to underscore the challenge. The same verse that introduces the temptation (Gen 3:5) returns כִּי to its causal sense ('for God doth know'). This range, from causal 'for' to declarative 'that' to emphatic 'indeed,' explains why כִּי appears in over 2,200 distinct verses.
La palabra en detalle
- H3588 כִּי is not a content word but a versatile grammatical particle. Its translation depends entirely on the clause it introduces and on co-occurring particles such as אִם (if), לָכֵן (therefore), or אָז (then).
Versículos de ejemplo
- Genesis 1:4 Here כִּי introduces the content clause 'it was good,' reporting what God saw. A declarative 'that,' not a causal 'because.'
- Genesis 2:3 כִּי marks a causal clause: God blessed the seventh day 'because that in it he rested.' The conjunction grounds the blessing in the prior act of rest.
- Genesis 2:17 כִּי introduces the reason for the prohibition: 'for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.' A clear causal 'for,' giving the consequence that motivates the command.
- Genesis 3:1 כִּי here is emphatic rather than causal, rendered 'really' in the serpent's loaded question. The same particle carries an assertive force in dialogue.
Preguntas frecuentes
Is כִּי a single word with one meaning?
No. כִּי is a grammatical particle with no fixed lexical meaning. Its sense — causal ('because/for'), declarative ('that'), conditional ('if'), temporal ('when'), or emphatic ('surely/truly') — comes from context and co-occurring words.
Why does KJV translate the same כִּי in so many different ways?
Because Hebrew relies heavily on context to determine a clause's logical role, while English prefers explicit markers. The KJV uses 'that' for content clauses, 'for/because' for causal clauses, 'when' for temporal clauses, and 'surely/truly' for emphatic ones — all rendered from the single Hebrew particle.
How can a reader tell which sense of כִּי is intended in a given verse?
Look at the surrounding clause relation: if the following clause states the content of a perception or speech, expect 'that'; if it supplies the reason for a preceding statement, expect 'because/for'; if it marks time, expect 'when'; if it heightens an assertion, expect 'surely/truly.'