יָכֹלyâkôl

be able, have power, prevail, endure

Pronunciation: yaw-kole' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H3201

Meanings

Qal

1. be able, to do a thing, whether ability be physical, moral, constitutional, or dependent on external authority (Genesis 13:16; 2 Chronicles 32:13; 2 Chronicles 32:15)

a. I am not able to rise up, Joseph was not able to restrain himself (Genesis 31:35; Genesis 45:1; Genesis 45:3)

c. We are not able, cannot (Genesis 29:8; Exodus 8:14; Isaiah 29:11)

d. may not, might not eat (Genesis 43:32; Judges 21:18; Deuteronomy 7:22)

e. be able (Numbers 22:6; Lamentations 4:14)

f. shall I be able and see? (Esther 8:6)

g. able to gain, accomplish, will they be unable (Hosea 8:5; Job 42:2; Jeremiah 38:5)

h. able to endure, I cannot endure iniquity and (Isaiah 1:13; Psalms 101:5)

i. able to reach, I cannot (reach) to it. (Psalms 139:6)

2. prevail

a. prevail, overcome, be victor, succeed (Genesis 30:8; Genesis 32:29; Hosea 12:5)

b. prevail against, over (Genesis 32:26; Numbers 13:30; Judges 16:5)

c. I have prevailed over him (Psalms 13:5; Zechariah 9:15)

3. have ability, strength (Job 31:23)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 194 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 13:6 But the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and herds living so close together.
  • Genesis 13:16 And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
  • Genesis 15:5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
  • Genesis 19:19 “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
  • Genesis 19:22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
  • Genesis 24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we can say.
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).