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The Names of God: Qanna

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(kan-naw’)
Jealous, Zealous

Use in the Bible: In the Old Testament Qanna occurs 6 times. Qanna is first used in Exd 20:5.

Variant spellings: Kanna

TWOT Reference: 2038b

Strong’s Reference: 7067

Qanna in the Septuagint: zêlôtês…jealous

Meaning and Derivation: Qanna is translated as “jealous,” “zealous,” or “envy.” The fundamental meaning relates to a marriage relationship. God is depicted as Israel’s husband; He is a jealous God, wanting all our praise for Himself and no one else. (cf. Exd 34:14)

Further references of the name Qanna in the Old Testament:Exd 20:5; Exd 34:14; Deu 4:24; Deu 5:9; Deu 6:15

Comments

  2. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? James 4:4-5

    Shown in the new testament too.

  3. This is a awesome description of God. got to study this in bible college. Obviously God is not jealous in a sinful manner, He is not jealous of what we have and wish that he had it or jealous of who we are. That is the type of jealousy we have in our hearts. But the Jealousy that God has is a righteous Jealousy. A jealousy of our time, our hearts, our passion, our worship. God is jealous for us not of us! Wanting all of us, our mind, soul and body. Wanting us to be consumed with Him for this exact reason, because he is consumed with us. Just as a husband is jealous for His wife’s attention and vise versa. God wants us to be consumed with Him. He is indeed a jealous God

  4. As a new believer, I’d heard this idea in a bible study I’d gone to– not the name- Qanna– but the idea.
    It sounded strange to me, because I’d already read the chapter in 1 Cor 13, on love, and right in the passage we read– love is not jealous. And I’d already read that God is love, in 1 John 4. So, when I read this, I was– huh?!? How can God be love, and jealous, if Love is not jealous.
    Over the years I’d come across it from time to time, seeking to better understand, and at one point the idea came to mind– a parent is jealous for their child, because they know the dangers out there that the child is too naive to be aware of. We see this in the extraction of forks, knives, matches, etc… from children’s hands, when they think sticking a fork in an electrical socket is a neat thing to do. Or they figure out that if they strike the match hard enough, it’ll light, and they can watch their sibling’s hair burn.
    There are many, many things out there that God warns us of, and tells us that will cause us great harm.
    Why would God do this? We see up front that parent’s do the same thing. We observe that they’re doing it for our well-being, even if we resent it, at the time. But at some point, we come to recognize two things….
    They love us, AND they are jealous for our safety. Perhaps, as the article states– jealousy would better be translated zealous. They’re seriously motivated to keep us from harm, when we ourselves cannot see the harm coming, or recognize the danger associated with a given activity that we desire to be involved in.

    • Jealous is an adjective, and the word God is a noun so how can one compare. Shouldn’t the study be about the word Jealous?
      God appears as EL OHIYM many times in the bible, El Ohiym come from the plural and stand for FALSE GOD. Worshipping statues and lighting candles and praying to a piece of wood should and will make GOD jealous. Thus the scripture, Thou shalt not worship falst pieces of wood/GOD?

      • EX 34:14…For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name [is] Jealous, [is] a jealous God:

        Indeed, He made known His name. It is more than an adjective. In fact, when He gave His Law to Moses in Ex 20, He did not say…I am a God of love first. He made known His character…No other gods before me…I am a jealous God.
        Those who truly follow Him will have to take up his cross…die to self and live for Him.

      • El Ohiym ~ The Three in one. So yes it is a pluar form. He is Jealouse. This a type. A figure of love. Of the type of Love he has for us. His love was so great that he chose to die for us Because he was jealouse toward us. Knowing what was best for us. He took what we deserve because he was Jealouse for us. He wants us. And for us to want Only Him.

      • And crosses, don’t forget standing or hanging on chains crosses, made of wood, precious metals and stones, which are relied upon or touched or held for protection, kissed in adoration, sung and worshiped toward, have images of a man carved into them and used, carried around as power from God. Graven crosses also fall under God’s commandment not to worship graven images of things in the earth. Christian hypocrisy makes an exception for crosses, excluding it from God’s commandment against idolatry.

      • jp:

        Do not be guilty of Jeremiah 23:27.

        Elohiym (El-o-heem) does not “stand for FALSE GOD.” Eloahh (el-o’-ah) in the Hebrew language is the singular form, meaning a diety, but particularly, The Deity-Supreme God/Mighty One. Elohiym (Strong’s 430) is the plural form, a collective noun, denoting the Father and The Son, and means Mighty Ones. A secondary meaning is “Judges.” Eloheinu is the possessive plural linguistic form, meaning our Mighty One’s.

        We are to declare His Name,{Exodus 9:16}, so I think that correct usage of names’s are important. Yahushua came as The Word, so I think that correct usage of word’s are important.

        Your Brother in Yahushua,

        Ken

    • I love this post as it relates to parents protecting their child. I’m not a parent but I’ve come to realize the love of God as true/protective and not one of “my parents just don’t want me to have fun. I was really in awe when God began to reveal to me that His “rule”/commandments/etc are not keeping us from having fun and enjoy life as we THINK we should, but rather He sets things in place because He KNOWS what’s on the other side.

      For example: A parent would warn or forbid us not to hang with certain people or friends. As children we didn’t like it because we thought mom and dad just didnt know what they were talking about for whatever reason…but they were actually protecting us from they’ve expereinced or seen.

      It just hit me while typing that we as children keep THINKING but God/parents KNOW. Gotta love it! Lol

    • God is not jealous of what we have or who we are. He is jealous of our attention. Like a husband. Our devotion should be only to God. And he is jealous when He sees our affections, our desires, our attention going to other things, like TV, or drugs, or any addiction which we spend too much time doing. He wants our attention first and foremost, all of it.

  5. I can be jealous, but that’s not my name. The eternals name is Yahweh and his son’s name is Yahshua.

    • Yes Steve he has but One name. This blog takes Exodus 34:14 Out of context as the Hebrew word Shem not only makes reference to a persons name but to their character traits as well. YaHuWaH is jealous, but that is part of His character. He has but one name.

      • Such a blessing to see the use of HIS true name and that of HIS First Born Son. Yes, ha Shem refers to character also- so the names of El Shaddai, The Righteous One, etc. We must remember that He is jealous for all of our being and we so are not giving that to HIM. If we were the Kingdom would be here, now!

  6. Some of the people who are making comments are really missing the whole point to this series. I LOVE what you are sharing, BLUE LETTER BIBLE! It makes perfect sense to me. THANK YOU for your ministry. It blesses me greatly every time I check in for a reading. May God’s favor be heavy upon you!

  7. It is a blessing to see FATHER’s Hebrew and thus true name used, also that of HIS First Born Son. If those who claim to follow HIM and know HIM as FATHER truely understood this jealousy, life on this planet would be very different – we would be living in THE KINGDOM!

    • Tangled in human being the conception of our Father is distorted. Descriptions (words) distract as does the familiarity of scriptures for those practiced in hearing and reading the Old and New Testaments. How to know God is righteousness, full of His Spirit the I am, now, the everpresent. Pray to look apart from this inadequacy of description. Be still and know God. Read verses with eyes of understanding to deliver yourselve into His presence. You must be born again, not of flesh.
      Eph 1:17-23, 1Cr 13:9-13, Jhn 3:7, 1Jo 5

  8. Can someone help me understand why it says that we first see Qanna in Exodus 20:5, but when I look at that verse that name is not there.

    I have heard the names of God, but I have never understood where they come from in the Bible.

    • To Carm, Qanna is the hebrew word for ‘a jealous God’. You won’t that word in your bible, but it may be in a concordance such as Strongs concordance. Qanna is translated to ‘a jealous God.’

    • Carm, Qanna is the hebrew word for jealous in Exo. 20:5 God is a ‘Qanna’ God, or a jealous God.

    • Carm,

      Go back to the verse here at BLB, click the “C” = concordance, to the left of the scripture, then when the expansion opens look to the right under the Hebrew root word there is qanna listed accross from Jealous. Two different languages Jealous/English Qanna/Hebrew

      Rose Publishing makes a great pamplet that lists the various names used for Father and the scriptures they relate to. It’s named ” Names Of God” you can buy it at lots of places. It’s a simple start on your walk of names.

      It will help you take your walk to understanding what the many names mean and where they are located in the Word.

      As the LORD starts to take you on WORD WALKS, He will guide you where to go. Use Blue Letter,click the C beside the verse, follow the links and dig.

      The more your Seek Him the more He will reveal to you.

      Many of Father’s names attributes of His personality, or Hebrew, Greek and not His specific personal name.

      I asked Him one time what His name was and He said, “I AM THAT I AM” . That Equals “YAHWEH” or the tetragrammaton “YHWH” as His personal name in Hebrew. That same name is rendered Jehovah and LORD in other languages.

      Ask Him to guide you through His Holy Spirit. Ask Him to help with your understanding and he will, I promise.

      Be Blessed & Loved

      Proverbs 8:17
      “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.

    • Carm, you’ll find it in the, “Orthodox Jewish Bible.” You won’t find Hebrew words or names in standard translations. You can download the OJB from: http://www.afii.org/OJB.pdf To see the Names of God, i.e. YHWH/Yahuweh, written in scripture, you can read them in translations such as these: “Aramaic English New Testament,” by Andrew Gabriel Roth. Or “Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition Study Bible.”
      The following verse is from the OJB: |5| Thou shalt not tishtacheveh to them, nor serve them; for I Hashem* (The Name) Eloheicha am an El kanna, visiting the avon Avot upon the Banim unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; *Certain Hebrews won’t say the Name of Yahuweh and choose instead to say, “Hashem,” meaning, The Name. Exodus 9:16 state’s otherwise: we are to declare His Name.