גָּלָל
Galal
BDB lists 3 entries for ‘Galal’ 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
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H1559 appears in the Book of 1 Chronicles — 2 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.
1 Chronicles
- 1 Chronicles 9:15 וְ/גָלָ֑ל conj + n Proper and Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph,
- 1 Chronicles 9:16 גָּלָ֖ל n Proper and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.
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.
גלל (Gâlâl) is a Hebrew name most often rendered “Galal.” A scarce word — 3 verses in all of the Hebrew Bible. It clusters heavily in 1 Chronicles, which alone accounts for 67% of its uses. It first appears in 1 Chronicles 9:15. The sections below give every occurrence and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1559 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 →
- 3
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 3 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #4,179
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 4,179 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 3 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Chronicles 2 verses 67%
- Nehemiah 1 verse 33%
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 3 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 3 verses · 100%
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 3 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†: Galal 3×
- American Standard Version†: Galal 3×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Galal 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Galal 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1559 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1559 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1559 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1559 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
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 2 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.
גלל I [m.] account, only in cstr. st. with בְּ, בִּגְלַל on account of, for the sake of (جَلَلٌ a great and momentous matter
גלל II [m.] dung (Arabic جَلَّةٌ ), הַגּ׳ 1 K 14
גלל III m. of two Levites
- 1. 1 Ch 9:15. e.g. 1 Chronicles 9:15
- 2. 1 Ch 9:16 Ne 11:17. e.g. 1 Chronicles 9:16
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. n.[m.] account, only in cstr. st. with בְּ, בִּגְלַל on account of, for the sake of (جَلَلٌ a great and momentous matter; مِنْ جَلَلِكَ on thy account; cf. מִן בִּגְלַל דְּ because that in Palestinian 𝔗, as ψ 4:9, and ܓܠܰܠ in Jerus. Syriac PS731) Gn 39:5 י׳ blessed the house of the Egyptian בִּגְלַל יוֹסֵף on account of Joseph, Dt 15:10; 18:12 1 K 14:16 Je 11:17; 15:4; with sf. בִּגְלָלֶ֑ךָ Gn 30:27; בִּגְלָלֵךְ 12:13; בִּגְלַלְכֶם Dt 1:37 Mi 3:12.
I. n.[m.] dung (Arabic جَلَّةٌ ), הַגּ׳ 1 K 14:10; גְּלָלִים Zp. 1:17.—See also [גֵּל].
II. n.pr.m. of two Levites;—
— 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.
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.
גָּלַל
- (b. h.)
- 1. to roll, unfold, fold. Meg. 32ᵃ he opens (the scroll), sees the place (to read from), גּוֹלֵל ומברך rolls it up again and says the benediction. Ib. הגּוֹלֵל ס"ת וכ׳ he who rolls the scrolls up (preparing the place to read from). B. Mets. II, 8 (29ᵇ) גוֹלְלָן he must roll the scrolls over (for the purpose of airing); a. fr.
- 2. (v. Gen. XXIX, 3) to roll off (one’s shoulders), disregard. Gen. R. s. 21 (play on גללו, Job XX, 7) על שג׳ מצוה וכ׳ because he disregarded a light command. e.g. Genesis 29:3
- to be rolled, folded. Cant. R. to V, 14 והיו נִגְלָלִין they could be folded up. Snh. 68ᵃ my two arms which are like two scrolls of the Law שנגללין rolled up (not unfolded, i.e. with me learning is buried which I was prevented from teaching).—Trnsf., with על, to be rolled on top of, to prevail. Ber. 7ᵃ יִגּוֹלּוּ רחמי על וכ׳ may my mercy prevail over my attributes (of justice &c.). Ib. יגולו רחמיך; v. גִּלְגֵּל.
- to be rolled up, folded. Taan. 21ᵇ; Men. 95ᵃ הוּגְלְלוּ הפרוכות when the curtains (of the Tabernacle) were folded up (for removing).
גְּלַל
- , to roll, unfold.—Part. pass. גְּלִיל unfolded, visible. Targ. Cant. V, 14.
- to roll off. Targ. Y. II, Gen. XXVIII, 10 (some ed. לִגְלָלָא Pe.).
- , v. גַּלְגֵּל, Ithpalp.
גָּלָל
- preced.)
- 1. rolling along with, appendage. Men. 15ᵃ; Pes. 13ᵇ לחם ג׳ תודה the bread is an appendage of the thank-offering; Men. 80ᵃ לִגְלַל תודה.—בִּגְלַל in consequence of, on account of, v. next w.
- 2. something rolled, rounded, ball, ordure, excrement, dung. B. Kam. III, 3 ההופך את הג׳ he who upturns (throws up) ordure into the street.—Pl. גְּלָלִים, גְּלָלִין. Sabb. 153ᵇ להטיל ג׳ to cast excrements (of animals). Lev. R. s. 16; Esth. R. to III, 1 מה הג׳ הללו וכ׳ as the dung is repulsive.
- 3. (with כְּלֵי) a material used for vessels, supposed to be baked ordure. Kel. X, 1. Par. V, 5. Mikv. IV, 1; Sabb. 16ᵇ. Men. 69ᵃ; 69ᵇ; a. fr. [Rashi to Sabb. l. c. expl. ג׳ = שייש, marble, to Men. l. c. = צפיעי בקר.]
גְּלָל
- 1. untrimmed stone, cobble (v. גְּוִיל). [Ezra V, 8.]—Ḥull. 63ᵃ אתא ג׳ a stone fell (from on high); Yalk. Zech. 578 גלאלא. Gitt. 47ᵃ Ar. (ed. גַּלְגַּלְתָּא). Ab. Zar. 22ᵇ, v. דַּגָּלָא. e.g. Ezra 5:8
- 2. lump.—Pl. גְּלָלֵי. Ḥull. 112ᵃ bot. תרי ג׳ דמלחא Rashi (ed. ג׳ מלחא) two lumps of salt.
- 3. ordure, v. גַּלָּא.—Pl. as supra. B. Kam. 92ᵇ (prov.) a dog in his hunger ג׳ מבלע (Ms. H. sing.) will swallow excrements (Rashi: stones).
- 4. wave, v. גַּלָּא.
- 5. consequence; בג׳ on account of, in order to. Targ. Ps. XL, 12 (Ms. ג׳ היכנא). Targ. II Chr. XXIV, 25; a. e.
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 2 distinct written forms H1559 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| גָּלָ֖ל | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 9:16 | 2 |
| וְ/גָלָ֑ל | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 9:15 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1559, 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
- גל gal H1530 wave
- גל gôl H1531 bowl, basin
- גלגל galgal H1534 whirlwind
- גלגלת gulgôleth H1538 skull
- גלה gullâh H1543 bowl
- גלול gillûwl H1544 idols
- גליל gâlîyl H1550 circuit
- גלל gâlâl H1557 dung
- גלל gâlâl H1558 on account of
- גלל gᵉlâl H1560 rolling
- מגלה mᵉgillâh H4039 scroll
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 13 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Galal). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(influential)
+ A Levite, one of the sons of Asaph. (1 Chronicles 9:15) (B.C. 536.) + Another Levite, of the family of Elkanah. (1 Chronicles 9:16) + A third Levite, son of Jeduthun. (Nehemiah 11:17) (B.C. 536.)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
a roll, a wheel
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 2 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 3 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.
