Kinah Explained

Kinah should not be confused with Kinnot.

Kinah, ḳinah^[1] or qinah (plural kinoth, qinot, qinoth) is Hebrew for a dirge or lamentation. Its general meaning is a dirge or lament, especially as sung by Jewish professional mourning women. Specifically, it can refer to one of the many Hebrew elegies chanted traditionally on Tisha B'Av. The Jerusalem Bible refers to Isaiah 47 as a qinah or "lament for Babylon",^[2] and to Ezekiel 19 as a qinah or lamentation over the rulers of Israel.^[3] A. W. Streane suggests that 2 Jeremiah, on the prophesied downfall of Jerusalem, is written "in Ḳinah metre".^[4]

Kinah was also a city in the extreme south of Judah (Joshua 15:22). It was probably not far from the Dead Sea, in the Wady Fikreh.^[5]

Notes and References

1. [Jewish Encyclopedia]
2. [Jerusalem Bible]
3. Jerusalem Bible (1966), sub-title to Ezekiel 19 and footnote a
4. Streane, A. W. (1911), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges om Jeremiah 22, accessed 10 February 2019
5. Easton, Matthew George (1897), Kinah in Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.