Consume
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words [1]
A. Verb.
Kâlâh ( כָּלָה , Strong'S #3615), “to cease, be finished, perish, be completed.” This verb occurs in most Semitic languages and in all periods. In Hebrew, it occurs both in the Bible (about 210 times) and in post-biblical literature. The word does not appear in biblical Aramaic.
Basically, the word means “to cease or stop.” Kâlâh may refer to the “end” of a process or action, such as the cessation of God’s creating the universe: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made …” (Gen. 2:2—the first occurrence of the word). The word can also refer to the “disappearance” of something: “And the water was kâlâh in the bottle …” (Gen. 21:15). Finally, kâlâh can be used of “coming to an end” or “the process of ending”: “The barrel of meal shall not waste” (1 Kings 17:14).
Kâlâh can have the more positive connotation of “successfully completing” something. First Kings 6:38 says that the house of the Lord was “finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all [its plans].” In this same sense, the word of the Lord “is fulfilled”: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation …” (Ezra 1:1).
Kâlâh sometimes means “making a firm decision.” David tells Jonathan that if Saul is very angry, “be sure that evil is determined by him” (1 Sam. 20:7).
N—egatively, “to complete” something may mean “to make it vanish” or “go away.” Kâlâh is used in this sense in Deut. 32:23, when God says: “I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.” In other words, His arrows will “vanish” from His possession. This nuance is used especially of clouds: “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away …” (Job 7:9). Another negative nuance is to “destroy” something or someone: “the famine shall consume the land” (Gen. 41:30). Along this same line is the use of kâlâh in Isa. 1:28: “… They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed”; here, however, the verb is a synonym for “dying” or “perishing.” One’s sight may also “vanish” and one may go blind: “But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape …” (Job 11:20). An altogether different emphasis appears when one’s heart comes “to an end” or “stops within”: “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord” (Ps. 84:2); the psalmist probably meant that his desire for God’s presence was so intense that nothing else had any meaning for him—he “died” to be there.
B. Noun.
Kâlâh ( כָּלָה , Strong'S #3617), “consumption; complete annihilation.” Kâlâh appears 15 times; one occurrence is Neh. 9:31: “Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them;.…”
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [2]
"to use up, spend up, especially in a bad sense, to destroy," is said of the destruction of persons, (a) literally, Luke 9:54 and the RV marg. of 2—Thessalonians 2:8 (text, "shall slay"); (b) metaphorically, Galatians 5:15 "(that) ye be not consumed (one of another)."
"to consume utterly, wholly" (kata, intensive), is said, in Hebrews 12:29 , of God as "a consuming fire."
lit., "to cause to disappear, put out of sight," came to mean "to do away with" (a, negative, phaino, "to cause to appear"), said of the destructive work of moth and rust, Matthew 6:19,20 (RV, "consume," AV, "corrupt"). See Corrupt , Disfigure , Perish , Vanish.
James 4:3Spend.
King James Dictionary [3]
Consume, L to take. So in English we say, it takes up time, that is, it consumes time.
1. To destroy, by separating the parts of a thing, by decomposition, as by fire, or eating, devouring, and annihilating the form of a substance. Fire consumes wood, coal, stubble animals consume flesh and vegetables. 2. To destroy by dissipating or by use to expend to waste to squander as, to consume an estate.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4 .
3. To spend to cause to pass away, as time as, to consume the day in idleness.
Their days did he consume in vanity. Psalms 78 .
4. To cause to disappear to waste slowly.
My flesh is consumed away. Job 38 .
5. To destroy to bring to utter ruin to exterminate.
Let me alone-- that I may consume them. Exodus 32 .
Consume To waste away slowly to be exhausted.
Their flesh--their eyes--their tongue shall consume away. Zechariah 14 .
The wicked shall perish--they shall consume. Psalms 37 .
Webster's Dictionary [4]
(1): (v. i.) To waste away slowly.
(2): (v. t.) To destroy, as by decomposition, dissipation, waste, or fire; to use up; to expend; to waste; to burn up; to eat up; to devour.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
kon - sūm ´ (אכל( , 'ākhal , כּלה , kālāh , תּמם , tāmam ; ἀναλίσκω , analı́skō ): In Old Testament 'ākhal ("to eat," "devour") occurs very frequently, and is translated "consumed" ( Genesis 31:40; Exodus 15:7; Psalm 78:63 , etc.); kālāh ("to finish") is also frequently translated "consume," "consumed" ( Genesis 41:30; Exodus 32:10; Psalm 59:13 , etc.); tāmam , "to be perfect," "finished" ( Numbers 17:13; Deuteronomy 2:15; Psalm 73:19 , etc.). There are many other words translated "consume" and "consumed," e.g. ṣūph , "to end" ( Jeremiah 8:13; Dan 1:44; Zephaniah 1:2 , Zephaniah 1:3 ); bālāh , "to fade," "wear away" ( Job 13:28; Psalm 49:14 ); gāzal , implying violence ( Job 24:19 ); ṣāphāh , "to end" ( Genesis 19:15 , Genesis 19:17; Isaiah 7:20 , etc.); ‛āshēsh , "to be old" ( Psalm 6:7; Psalm 31:9 , Psalm 31:10 the King James Version); māḳaḳ , "to become completed" ( Ezekiel 4:17; Zechariah 14:12 bis ); ‛āsāh kālāh is rendered "utterly consume" ( Nehemiah 9:31 ); analiskō , "to use up," occurs in Luke 9:54; Galatians 5:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (the King James Version); dapanáō , "to spend," is translated "consume" in James 4:3 (the Revised Version (British and American) "spend"); katanalı́skō , "to consume utterly," occurs only in Hebrews 12:29; "for our God is a consuming fire."
In the Revised Version (British and American) "devour," "devoured" are several times substituted for "consume," "consumed," e.g. Job 20:26; Jeremiah 49:27; Numbers 16:35; "boil well" ( Ezekiel 24:10 ); for "be consumed with dying" ( Numbers 17:13 ), "perish all of us"; "consume" is substituted for "corrupt" in Matthew 6:19; "my spirit is consumed," for "my breath is corrupt" ( Job 17:1 ); instead of "the flame consumeth the chaff" ( Isaiah 5:24 ) we have "as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame"; and for "whom the Lord shall consume" ( 2 Thessalonians 2:8 ), the Revised Version (British and American) reads (after a different text) "whom the Lord Jesus shall slay," "consume" in the American Revised Version, margin.
