גָּדוֹל
great
‘great’ is one of 12 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
Form
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H1419 appears in the Book of Genesis — 31 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Genesis
- Genesis 1:16 הַ/גְּדֹלִ֑ים הַ/גָּדֹל֙ ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective mp ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
- Genesis 1:21 הַ/גְּדֹלִ֑ים ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective mp God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
- Genesis 4:13 גָּד֥וֹל adj Adjective ms Cain said to Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.
- Genesis 10:12 הַ/גְּדֹלָֽה ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective fs and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city).
- Genesis 10:21 הַ/גָּדֽוֹל ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms To Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him also were children born.
- Genesis 12:2 גָּד֔וֹל adj Adjective ms I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
- Genesis 12:17 גְּדֹלִ֖ים adj Adjective mp Yahweh plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
- Genesis 15:12 גְדֹלָ֖ה adj Adjective fs When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
- Genesis 15:14 גָּדֽוֹל adj Adjective ms I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great substance.
- Genesis 15:18 הַ/גָּדֹ֖ל ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
- Genesis 17:20 גָּדֽוֹל adj Adjective ms As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
- Genesis 18:18 גָּד֖וֹל adj Adjective ms seeing that Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
- Genesis 19:11 גָּד֑וֹל adj Adjective ms They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
- Genesis 20:9 גְדֹלָ֑ה adj Adjective fs Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!"
- Genesis 21:8 גָד֔וֹל adj Adjective ms The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
- Genesis 21:18 גָּד֖וֹל adj Adjective ms Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."
- Genesis 27:1 הַ/גָּדֹ֗ל ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms It happened, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, "My son?" He said to him, "Here I am."
- Genesis 27:15 הַ/גָּדֹל֙ ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.
- Genesis 27:33 גְּדֹלָ֣ה adj Adjective fs Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed."
- Genesis 27:34 גְּדֹלָ֥ה adj Adjective fs When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
- Genesis 27:42 הַ/גָּדֹ֑ל ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective ms The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, "Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you.
- Genesis 29:2 גְּדֹלָ֖ה adj Adjective fs He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the well's mouth was great.
- Genesis 29:7 גָּד֔וֹל adj Adjective ms He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the cattle together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them."
- Genesis 29:16 הַ/גְּדֹלָה֙ ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective fs Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
- Genesis 39:9 גָד֜וֹל הַ/גְּדֹלָה֙ adj Adjective ms ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective fs He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
- Genesis 39:14 גָּדֽוֹל adj Adjective ms that she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, "Behold, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice.
- Genesis 41:29 גָּד֖וֹל adj Adjective ms Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 44:12 בַּ/גָּד֣וֹל prep det + Adjective Adjective ms He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
- Genesis 45:7 גְּדֹלָֽה adj Adjective fs God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
- Genesis 46:3 גָּד֖וֹל adj Adjective ms He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down into Egypt; for there I will make of you a great nation.
- Genesis 50:10 גָּד֥וֹל adj Adjective ms They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
“great” is the headline sense of the Hebrew word גדול (gâdôwl). Carrying more than one sense, it rewards its full sense range. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 499 verses — common. First canonically at Genesis 1:16, it enters the text early. It shares a root with גדל, גדל and גדל. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1419 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 499
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 499 distinct verses.
- 35 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 35 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #93
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 93 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 499 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Jeremiah 47 verses 9%
- Deuteronomy 41 verses 8%
- 1 Samuel 34 verses 7%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 499 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 269 verses · 54%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 134 verses · 27%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 96 verses · 19%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Great 284×, High 20×, Loud 19×
- American Standard Version†: Great 263×, High 19×, Loud 18×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Great 230×, Large 27×, High 20×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Great 371×, Is great 14×, Large 13×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1419 across 525† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 87 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 4 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1419 across 524† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 111 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1419 across 501† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 75 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 22 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1419 across 524† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 36 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
13 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 13 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
גדול I great
- 1. in magnitude and extent, e.g. sea Nu 34:6, river Gn 15:18, wilderness Dt 1:19, rain 1 K 18:45, mountain Zc 4:7, city Gn 10:12, house Je 52:13, altar Jos 22:10, throne 2 Ch 9:17, sea-monsters Gn 1:21, fish Jon 2:1, eagle Ez 17:3, terebinth 2 S 18:9, substance Gn 15:14, wealth Dn 11:2, victory 1 S 19:5; 1 S 19:22 בּוֹר הַגָּדוֹל read ב׳ הַגֹּרֶן according to 𝔊 We Dr. e.g. Numbers 34:6
- 2. in number, e.g. nation Gn 12:2, congregation Je 31:8, camp 1 Ch 12:22, army Ez 17:17, sacrifice 2 K 10:19. slaughter Dt 28:59 1 S 4:17. e.g. Genesis 12:2
- 3. in intensity, fear Dt 4:34, weeping Is 38:3, power כּחַ Ex 32:11, joy Jon 4:6, anger Dt 29:23, indignation Je 21:5, sin Gn 20:9, iniquity Gn 4:13, evil Gn 39:9, trespass Ez 9:7. e.g. Deuteronomy 4:34
- 4. in sound, loud voice Gn 39:14, cry Ex 11:6, shout Jos 6:5. e.g. Genesis 39:14
- 5. in age, elder, eldest, son Gn 27:1, daughter Gn 29:16, brother Gn 10:21, sister Ez 16:46. e.g. Genesis 27:1
- 6. in importance,
- a. things †(הַ)דָּבָר (הַ)גָּדֹל an important thing or affair Ex 18:22 Dt 4:32 1 S 12:16 2 K 5:13; 8:13; יום יהוה Je 30:7 Ho 2:2 Jo 2:11; 3:4 Zp 1:14 Mal 3:23. e.g. Exodus 18:22
- b. of men, great, distinguished, Moses Ex 11:3, David 2 S 5:10, Job Jb 1:3, Mordecai Est 9:4, kings Ec 9:14 Je 27:7; especially of king of Assyrian הַמֶּלֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל 2 K 18:19, 28 = Is 36:4, 13, = Assyrian šarru rabbu, šarru dannu, e.g. KB i. 94, 1. 1; הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל the h. p. Lv 21:10 + 20 times; (הָ)אִישׁ גָּדוֹל 1 S 25:2 2 S 19:33 2 K 5:1; אִשָּׁה גְדוֹלָה 2 K 4:8; †גָּדוֹל a great man 2 S 3:38 Mi 7:3; לֹא תֶהְדַּר פְּנֵי גָדוֹל thou shalt not honour (favour) the person of a great man (opp. דָּל) Lv 19:15 (H); †(הַ)גְּדוֹלִים the great 2 S 7:9 = 1 Ch 17:8 Ne 11:14 (vid. infr.) Pr 18:16; 25:6 Je 5:5 (2 K 10:11 𝔊L ἀγχιστεύοντας, Klo גֹּאֲלָיו); further גְּדֹלֵי הָעִיר 2 K 10:6; (כָּל־)גְּדֹלָיו 2 K 10:11; Jon 3:7; כָּל־גְּדוֹלֶיהָ Na 3:10. e.g. Exodus 11:3
- c. †of God, himself 2 Ch 2:4 Ne 4:8; 8:6 ψ 86:10; 99:2; 135:5; 147:5 Is 12:6 Je 10:6; (הָ)אֵל (הַ)גָּדוֹל Dt 7:21; 10:17 Ne 1:5; 9:32 ψ 77:14; 95:3 Je 32:18 Dn 9:4; גדול מכל האלהים Ex 18:11; גדול ומהלל מאד 1 Ch 16:25 ψ 48:2; 96:4; 145:3; מלך גדול ψ 47:3; 95:3 Mal 1:14; †his works Dt 11:7 Ju 2:7 ψ 111:2, †glory ψ 21:6; 138:5, †name Jos 7:9 1 S 12:22 1 K 8:42 2 Ch 6:32 ψ 76:2; 99:3 Je 10:6; 44:26 Ez 36:23 Mal 1:11(×2), mercy 1 K 3:6 2 Ch 1:8 ψ 57:11; 86:13; 108:5, goodness Ne 9:25, compassion Is 54:7. e.g. 2 Chronicles 2:4
- 7. in phrases †עוֹד הַיּוֹם גָּדוֹל it is yet high day (Fr. grand jour, Germ. hoch am Tage, the day is at its height) Gn 29:7; †כַּקָּטֹן כַּגָּדֹל (or reverse) as well small as great Dt 1:17 1 Ch 25:8; 26:13 2 Ch 31:15; †(לְ)מִקָּטֹן וְעַד גָּדוֹל (or reverse) from small to great Gn 19:11 1 S 5:9; 30:2, 19 2 K 23:2; 25:26 2 Ch 15:13; 34:30 Est 1:5, 20 Je 6:13; 8:10; 31:34; 42:1, 8; 44:12 Jon 3:5. e.g. Genesis 29:7
- 8. cstr. גְּדֹל (הַ)כְּנָפַיִם great of wings Ez 17:3, 7, so of anger Pr 19:19 (Qr); usually of God, in power Na 1:3, counsel, Je 32:19, mercy ψ 145:8. e.g. Ezekiel 17:3
- 9. as subst. concr. †עשׂה גדלות do great things, of God’s great acts of redemption and judgment Dt 10:21 Jb 5:9; 9:10; 37:5 ψ 71:19; 106:21; of the miracles of Elisha 2 K 8:4; of things too great and so presumptuous, haughty תבקשׁ ג׳ Je 45:5; מדברת ג׳ ψ 12:4; לא הלכתי בג׳ ψ 131:1 (cf. Biblical Aramaic Dn 7:8, 11, 20; also Rev 13:5). e.g. Deuteronomy 10:21
- 10. †as subst. neut. greatness of arm Ex 15:16; cf. גָּבֹהַּ 4. e.g. Exodus 15:16
גדול II m. father of Zabdiel Ne 11
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. adj. great—ג׳ Gn 4:13 + 279 times; גָּדֹל Dt 26:8 + 22 times; cstr. גְּדוֹל Ex 15:16 belongs rather sub גֹּ֫דֶל Ez 17:3, 7, גְּדֹל Ex 15:16 Je 32:19, גְּדָל־ Pr 19:19, גְּדָו֯ל־ ψ 145:8 Na 1:3; sf. גְּדוֹלָם Je 6:13 + 2 times; pl. גְּדוֹלִים Ex 7:4 + 11 times, גְּדֹלִים Gn 12:17 + 22 times; cstr. גְּדֹלֵי ψ 79:11 2 K 10:6; sf. גְּדֹלָיו 2 K 10:11 Jon 3:7; גְּדוֹלָיהָ Na 3:10; f. גְּדוֹלָה Nu 22:18 + 96 times; גְּדֹלָה Gn 15:12 + 31 times; pl. גְּדוֹלֹת Ne 9:26; 12:31, גְּדֹלוֹת Dt 27:2 + 30 times, גְּדֹלֹת Nu 13:28 + 7 times;—great,
I. n.pr.m. father of Zabdiel Ne 11:14 (RV & so most; but 𝔊 RVm al. the great).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from גדל (gâdal) (H1431) — to grow.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
גָּדוֹל
- 1. great, distinguished; (noun) a great man, leader. Sabb. 94ᵇ, a. fr. ג׳ כבוד הבריות וכ׳ human dignity is something great, for it overrules a prohibitive law &c. Ned. 49ᵇ ג׳ מלאכה וכ׳ labor is something great, for it honors him who pursues it.—Sot. I, 9 ג׳ ממנו his superior. Gen. R. s. 100 גְּדוֹל העולמים the Great One of the worlds, the Lord.—Snh. 21ᵇ גְּ׳ העולם a world-renowned man (Solomon). M. Kat. 22ᵃ גְּ׳ הדור a prominent man of his days. Y. ib. III, 82ᶜ top גְּ׳ המשפחה the chief of the family; a. v. fr.
- 2. adult, of age, older. Yeb. II, 8 בג׳ on the eldest brother. Ib. XIII, 11 ג׳ וקטנה if one of the brother’s widows is of age, and the other a minor; a. fr.—כהן גדול (abbr. כ"ג) Highpriest. Ib. IX, 1; a. fr.—Pl. גְּדוֹלִים, גְּדוֹלִין; גְּדוֹלוֹת. Koh. R. to VII, 8 גְּדוֹלֵי הדור scholars, v. supra; ג׳ ירושלים prominent citizens of Jerusalem.—Ab. Zar. 18ᵃ ג׳ רומי Roman dignitaries; a. fr.—Ber. 23ᵇ, a. e. גדולים (sub. נקבים) the larger functions of the body, movement of the bowels; v. דַּק.
גִּדּוּל
- , v. גִּידּוּל
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 185 distinct written forms H1419 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 125 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1419, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- גדל gâdêl H1432 growing up
- גדל gôdel H1433 greatness
- גדל gᵉdil H1434 tassels
- מגדל migdâl H4026 tower
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- גדל Giddêl H1435 Giddel
- גדליה Gᵉdalyâh H1436 Gedaliah
- גדלתי Giddaltîy H1437 Giddalti
- יגדליהו Yigdalyâhûw H3012 Igdaliah
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 11 — not the complete family. 4 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 454 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 499 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 1:16
- Exodus 3:3
- Leviticus 19:15
- Numbers 13:28
- Deuteronomy 1:7
- Joshua 1:4
- Judges 2:7
- 1 Samuel 2:17
- 2 Samuel 3:38
- 1 Kings 1:40
- 2 Kings 3:27
- 1 Chronicles 11:9
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
