The Hebrew word qadesh is usually translated as holy and this English word holy has various meanings which don’t relate to our everyday life. As a consequence, these concepts don’t match the Hebrew which is a very concrete term to do with clean and pure and also purified and washed, extracted and all the processes which are involved in mining a precious metal and preparing it for its pure state. So, the word holy is best described by the terms pure, precious, polished, and pleasantly delightful.
The Children of Shunya 