ka.la denotes holding something back, preventing it, or keeping a person confined.

The attested use most often concerns holding back or preventing something from proceeding, including rain, offerings, dew, crops, and persons or actions. It also describes confinement, where sons are shut up and Jeremiah is confined under guard.

1. Holding back or preventing · dominant

   In Daniel 9:24, the Piel infinitive construct occurs among stated purposes, and the APB renders the clause "to restrain the transgression." Qal and Niphal forms likewise occur where rain is restrained in Genesis 8:2, the people are restrained from bringing in Exodus 36:6, and the north and south are addressed about giving up or not restraining people in Isaiah 43:6.

   Daniel 9:24Genesis 8:2Exodus 36:6Haggai 1:10Isaiah 43:6Numbers 11:28
2. Keeping persons or animals confined · occasional

   In 1 Samuel 6:10, the Qal perfect describes sons shut up in the house after the heifers are bound to the cart. Jeremiah 32:2 uses a Qal passive participle while the APB says Jeremiah was "confined in the court of the guard," and Jeremiah 32:3 identifies the king as the one who had confined him there.

   1 Samuel 6:10Jeremiah 32:2Jeremiah 32:3

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses the APB uses wording such as "restrain," "restrained," "held back," "withhold," "shut up," and "confined." Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these renderings show the clauses' presentation rather than fixed English equivalents for the lemma.