cha.dal denotes stopping or refraining from an action, and the ending of an ongoing event, condition, or activity.

The verb most often marks a person or group discontinuing an intended or ongoing action, whether building, going out, praying, fighting, or urging. It also describes events, sounds, productive activity, and continuing conditions coming to an end or no longer continuing.

1. Stop or refrain from an action · dominant

   In 1 Kings 15:21, the Qal sequential imperfect occurs when Baasha abandons building Ramah; in 1 Samuel 12:23, the Qal infinitive construct concerns not discontinuing prayer. The same action-oriented use appears in commands to stop speaking or opposing in 2 Chronicles 25:16 and 2 Chronicles 35:21, and in Ruth 1:18, where Naomi no longer urges Ruth.

   1 Kings 15:211 Samuel 12:232 Chronicles 25:162 Chronicles 35:21Ruth 1:18Jeremiah 41:8
2. Come to an end or no longer continue · common

   The Qal forms can describe an ongoing event or condition ending rather than a direct command to a person: in Exodus 9:29 the thunder is expected to stop, and Exodus 9:33 reports that the thunder, hail, and rain stopped. Genesis 11:8 reports that the scattered builders no longer built the city, while Isaiah 24:8 describes the cessation of celebratory sound.

   Exodus 9:29Exodus 9:33Genesis 11:8Deuteronomy 15:11Isaiah 24:8Job 14:7

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the verb with forms such as "stopped," "ceased," and "refrain," and sometimes expresses the result as no longer continuing. Because its English is a translation of whole verses, those renderings confirm the clauses' overall presentation rather than fixing a separate English equivalent in every verse.