to sustain
kul denotes providing ongoing support or provisions, and also holding, containing, or enduring what presses upon a person or place.
The dominant use concerns supplying and maintaining people or households, especially with food and care. Other verses use the term for a vessel, altar, heavens, or cistern holding what is assigned to it, and for enduring wrath, a coming day, words, or inward pressure.
Senses in use
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Providing for and maintaining people · dominant
Pilpel forms occur where provision is given for people in need: in Genesis 47:12 the APB renders Joseph's action as sustaining his father, brothers, and household with food, while Genesis 45:11 places such care in the setting of famine. The same use includes ravens and a widow appointed to provide for Elijah in 1 Kings 17:4 and 1 Kings 17:9, and Obadiah's bread-and-water care for hidden prophets in 1 Kings 18:4.
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Holding or containing an amount · common
Hiphil forms describe capacity or containment: the bronze basins hold stated measures in 1 Kings 7:26 and 1 Kings 7:38, while the bronze altar is too small to hold the offerings in 1 Kings 8:64. The same capacity imagery is extended to heaven being unable to contain God in 1 Kings 8:27 and to broken cisterns that hold no water in Jeremiah 2:13.
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Enduring or bearing what cannot be held in · occasional
The term marks inability or capacity to bear a burden or pressure: in Jeremiah 20:9 the APB renders the speaker as unable to hold in the burning word, and in Jeremiah 6:11 as weary of holding in the LORD's rage. It also occurs in questions about enduring the LORD's day in Joel 2:11 and Malachi 3:2, and about nations enduring indignation in Jeremiah 10:10.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the verses, the APB commonly uses “sustain,” “provide,” and “provisioned” for care of people, while capacity contexts are rendered “held” or “hold” and pressure contexts “endure” or “holding it in.” These renderings present the verse-level sense.