כִּי עַל כֵּן forasmuch as, a peculiar phrase found [Gen 18:5]; [Gen 19:8]; [Gen 33:10]; [Gen 38:26]; [Num 10:31]; [Num 14:43]; [Judg 6:22]; [2Sam 18:20] Qr (rightly), [Jer 29:28]; [Jer 38:4] — literally for therefore, emphasizing the ground pleonastically (Ew§ 353 a ). The original force of the phrase is traceable in some of the passages in which it occurs, as [Gen 18:5] let me fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort your heart; כִּיעַֿלכֵּֿן עֲבַרְתֶּם עַל עַבְדְּכֶם for therefore (that is, to partake of such hospitality) are ye come to your servant, [Num 14:43] the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there, and ye will fall by the sword, כִּיעַֿלכֵּֿן שַׁבְתֶּם for therefore (to encounter such a fate) have ye turned back from ׳י etc.: but in process of time the distinct sense of its component parts was no doubt gradually obscured, and it thus came to be used conventionally, as a mere particle of causation, even where there was no preceding statement to which עַל כֵּן therefore could be explicitly referred. אֲשֶׁר עַל כֵּן appears to be used similarly (compare אֲשֶׁר 8 c) [Job 34:27].
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon
License: Public domain document; formatting developed for use in https://marvel.bible by Eliran Wong.
Source: provided by Tim Morton, the developer of Bible Analyzer