Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

גֻּלָּה

bowl

also: spring, basin fuller range ↓

H1543 Strong's Hebrew
gullâh Transliteration
/gool-law'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 15 appearances

Compare with another word →

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.

גלה — transliterated gullâh — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “bowl.” The King James Version usually renders it “springs,” while modern versions prefer “the” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) — see the renderings breakdown. With 9 verses in 6 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Joshua 15:19, it then recurs through the corpus. Alongside “bowl” the lexicon also lists “spring” and “basin” — part of its full sense range. See the sense tree, 9-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
bowl
Modern gloss
bowl
Strong's 1890 agrees
Strong's 1890 and current BDB scholarship align on this entry's primary sense — a good signal that the gloss above is unambiguous and stable. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H1543 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 →

9
distinct verses
The word appears in 9 distinct verses.
6 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 6 of 39 Old Testament books.
Joshua 15:19
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Joshua 15:19.
Zechariah 4:3
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 4:3.
#1,836
by frequency
Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,836 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 9 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 0 · 0%
  • Historical 6 · 67%
  • Wisdom 1 · 11%
  • Prophets 2 · 22%

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 9 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 6 verses · 67%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 3 verses · 33%

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: Springs 6×, Pommels 3×, Bowls 2×
  • American Standard Version: Springs 6×, Bowls 5×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Bowl-shaped 4×, Springs 4×, Bowl 3×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: The 8×, Bowls of 5×, Springs 4×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H1543 across 14 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Springs” 6×
  • “Pommels” 3×
  • “Bowls” 2×

Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H1543 across 14 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Springs” 6×
  • “Bowls” 5×

Plus 3 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 H1543 across 13 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Bowl-shaped” 4×
  • “Springs” 4×
  • “Bowl” 3×
  • “Bowls” 2×

Not rendered by a distinct English word in 2 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H1543 across 23 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “The” 8×
  • “Bowls of” 5×
  • “Springs” 4×
  • “Bowl” 2×
  • “Springs of” 2×

Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


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 4 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.

גלה I v sub גלל.

גלה II basin, bowl

  • 1. basin (pool, well?) ג׳ מַיִם Jos 15:19 = Ju 1:15; om. מ׳ Jos 15:19(×2) = Ju 1:15(×2) (prob. old n.pr.loc., cf. Di). e.g. Joshua 15:19
  • 2. bowl,
    • a. of lamp, i.e. oil-receptacle Zc 4:3, also v 2, where MT גֻּלָּהּ as if from [גֹּל]; read גֻּלָּה Brd Ges§ 91. 1, R. 2.; (> Hi-St Bö§ 734 b De on ψ 27:5 Sta§ 347 c, who think גֻּלָּהּ = גֻּלָּתָהּ);—so also Ec 12:6 גֻּלַּת הַזָּהָב. e.g. Zechariah 4:3
    • b. of bowl- or globe-shaped portion of capitals of the two pillars in temple 1 K 7:41(×2), 42 = 2 Ch 4:12(×2), 13. e.g. 1 Kings 7:41

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

n.f. basin, bowl—ג׳ Zc 4:3 + v 2 cf. infr.; cstr. גֻּלַּת Ec 12:6; pl. abs. גֻּלֹּת Jos 15:19(×2) + 2 times; ־וֹת 2 Ch 4:12; cstr. גֻּלֹּת (־וֹת) 1 K 7:41 (הַגּ׳ Th, so ‖ 2 Ch 4:12 cf. Be), v 41 + 3 times;—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from גלל (gâlal) (H1556) — to roll.

Part of speech: Noun Feminine TWOT: 353c


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.

גִּלָּה

  • (גלל, cmp. גַּל 3) a valve, folding. Y. Sabb. XII, beg. 13ᶜ מטה של ג׳ folding couch.—Pl. גִּלִּין. Bab. Sabb. 138ᵃ כסא ג׳ camp chair.

גֻּלָּה

  • , v. גּוּלָּה

גָּלָה

  • , v. גלי

גלי

  • (b. h.)
  • 1. to be uncovered. Tosef. Mikv. III, 1 a pit שגָּלַת ed. Zuck. which was left open.—Part. pass. גָּלוּי open, revealed. Sabb. 55ᵃ ג׳ וידוע וכ׳ it is open and known to me. Ber. 60ᵇ; a. fr. V. גָּלוּי.
  • 2. (of a place) to become bare of inhabitants (v. Jud. XVIII, 30; Jer. I, 3); (of the inhabitants) to leave home, go into exile. Y. Taan. I, 64ᵃ top בכ"מ שגָּלוּ … גָּלַת וכ׳ whithersoever Israel went as exiles, the Divine Majesty went with them (ref. to נגלה, I Sam. II, 27); Meg. 29ᵃ; a. e.—Pesik. Haḥod. p. 48ᵃ אם ג׳ אחד מכם … כאילו גְּלִיתֶם כולכם if one of you is banished (by the Roman Government) to &c.: … as though ye all had been banished; Pesik. R. s. 15; Cant. R. to II, 8. Arakh. 12ᵃ; Meg. 11ᵇ גָּלוּ בשבע they were transported to Babylonia in the seventh year (after the subjection of Jojakim). Macc. II, 1 אלו הן הַגּוֹלִין the following (involuntary homicides) have to leave for the city of refuge. Ib. אינו גוֹלֶה is not bound to flee to &c. Ib. 3 האב גולה ע"י הבן a father is banished for killing his son; a. fr. e.g. Judges 18:30
    • to banish, carry into captivity. Macc. 12ᵇ היו … מַגְלִין וכ׳ the Israelites executed the law of banishment in the desert. Num. R. s. 23, end. Ruth R. to I, 1 ומַגְלָם מארצם and is the cause of their exile &c.; a. fr.—Koh. R. to XII, 6 (play on גלת ib.) ‘the golden bowl’ is the gullet, שהיא מַגְלָה את הזהב ומריצה וכ׳ (not שהיה; Lev. R. s. 18 שמכלה, corr. acc.) which banishes the gold and makes the silver run, i.e. which impoverishes the glutton.
    • to be discovered, exposed to view; to reveal one’s self, appear. Tanḥ. Sh’moth 19 נ׳ עליו בקולו וכ׳ He revealed Himself to Moses with the voice of Amram &c.; Ex. R. s. 3. Ex. R. s. 2, end בכ"מ שהשכינה נִגְלֵית wherever the Divine Glory appears. Snh. II, 1, v. כָּסָה II; a. fr.
    • to uncover, remove; to discover, reveal, publish. Ex. R. s. 15, beg. גִּלּוּ הצדיקים וכ׳ the righteous uncovered their heads. Sot. V, 2; Gen. R. s. 21 מי יְגַלֶּה עפר וכ׳ Oh that one would remove the dust from over thy eyes, i.e. Oh, that thou wouldst resurrect!; Y. Ber. IX, 13ᵈ bot.—Sabb. 88ᵃ מי גי׳ וכ׳ who revealed this secret to my children? Meg. 3ᵃ; a. fr.—ג׳ משפחות to expose to suspicion the legitimacy of families. Tosef. Naz. I, 3; Kidd. 71ᵃ.—ג׳ פנים בתורה (שלא כהלכה) a) to interpret the Law in opposition to the adopted sense, tomisinterpret, pervert. Ab. III, 11; a. e. b) to put the Law to shame by treating its teachers irreverently. Snh. 99ᵃ; a. e.—ג׳ פנים (in gen.) to expose, put to shame. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XLIV, v. לָבַן II.—Part. pass. מְגוּלֶּה, f. מְגוּלָּה uncovered. Par. XI, 1; Ḥull. 9ᵇ; a. fr. Pl. מְגוּלִּין. Ib.; a. fr.
    • to be revealed; to be exposed. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XXIII ונתגל בתוך האהל his nakedness was exposed &c. Yoma 9ᵇ נתג׳ עונם their sins were public (they did not hide them); נתג׳ קיצם the end of their captivity was revealed (through prophecy). Naz. 23ᵇ נ׳ קלונו his disgrace is published.—Pes. 119ᵃ; a. fr.—Tanḥ. Mishp. 6; Yalk. Prov. 956, v. גָּלַע.

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 8 distinct written forms H1543 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.

Form Parsing Example Uses
גֻּלֹּ֣ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct 1 Kings 7:41 6
גֻּלֹּ֥ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Joshua 15:19 2
גֻּלּ֣וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct 2 Chronicles 4:12 2
גֻּלַּ֣ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Ecclesiastes 12:6 1
הַ/גֻּלָּ֔ה Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Zechariah 4:3 1
וְ/גֻלָּ֣הּ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Zechariah 4:2 1
וְ/גֻלֹּ֧ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct 1 Kings 7:41 1
וְ/הַ/גֻּלּ֧וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 4:12 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1543, 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

Proper names from this root

People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.

Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 13 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 9 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 9 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

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.

Reading settings

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.