גָּמָל
camel
‘camel’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
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.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
39 distinct verses where H1581 appears in the Absolute state, across 14 books. Filtered view — show all forms. 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 17 verses
- Genesis 12:16 וּ/גְמַלִּֽים conj + n c mp He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, and oxen, and male donkeys, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and female donkeys, and camels.
- Genesis 24:10 גְמַלִּ֜ים מִ/גְּמַלֵּ֤י n c mp prep + n c mp cs The servant took ten camels, of his master's camels, and departed, having all goodly things of his master's in his hand. He arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.
- Genesis 24:11 הַ/גְּמַלִּ֛ים ptcl def.art + n c mp He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.
- Genesis 24:22 הַ/גְּמַלִּים֙ ptcl def.art + n c mp It happened, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold,
- Genesis 24:30 הַ/גְּמַלִּ֖ים ptcl def.art + n c mp It happened, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, "This is what the man said to me," that he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
- Genesis 24:31 לַ/גְּמַלִּֽים prep det + n c mp He said, "Come in, you blessed of Yahweh. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels."
- Genesis 24:32 הַ/גְּמַלִּ֑ים לַ/גְּמַלִּ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp prep det + n c mp The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
- Genesis 24:35 וּ/גְמַלִּ֖ים conj + n c mp Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and donkeys.
- Genesis 24:46 גְּמַלֶּ֖י/ךָ הַ/גְּמַלִּ֖ים n c mp cs + sfx pers 2ms ptcl def.art + n c mp She hurried and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink.' So I drank, and she made the camels drink also.
- Genesis 24:61 הַ/גְּמַלִּ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp Rebekah arose with her ladies. They rode on the camels, and followed the man. The servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
- Genesis 24:63 גְמַלִּ֖ים n c mp Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming.
- Genesis 24:64 הַ/גָּמָֽל ptcl def.art + n c ms Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel.
- Genesis 30:43 וּ/גְמַלִּ֖ים conj + n c mp The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and donkeys.
- Genesis 31:17 הַ/גְּמַלִּֽים ptcl def.art + n c mp Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels,
- Genesis 31:34 הַ/גָּמָ֖ל ptcl def.art + n c ms Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them.
- Genesis 32:7 וְ/הַ/גְּמַלִּ֖ים conj + ptcl def.art + n c mp Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;
- Genesis 32:15 גְּמַלִּ֧ים n c mp thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals.
Exodus 1 verse
Leviticus 1 verse
Deuteronomy 1 verse
1 Samuel 3 verses
- 1 Samuel 15:3 מִ/גָּמָ֖ל prep + n c ms Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
- 1 Samuel 27:9 וּ/גְמַלִּים֙ conj + n c mp David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish.
- 1 Samuel 30:17 הַ/גְּמַלִּ֖ים ptcl def.art + n c mp David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day: and there not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.
1 Kings 1 verse
2 Kings 1 verse
1 Chronicles 2 verses
- 1 Chronicles 12:40 וּ/בַ/גְּמַלִּ֣ים conj + prep det + n c mp Moreover those who were near to them, [even] as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, food of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel.
- 1 Chronicles 27:30 הַ֨/גְּמַלִּ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp and over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite: and over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite: and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite.
2 Chronicles 2 verses
- 2 Chronicles 9:1 וּ֠/גְמַלִּים conj + n c mp When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great train, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she talked with him of all that was in her heart.
- 2 Chronicles 14:15 וּ/גְמַלִּ֔ים conj + n c mp They struck also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2 verses
Job 3 verses
- Job 1:3 גְמַלִּ֗ים n c mp His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.
- Job 1:17 הַ/גְּמַלִּים֙ ptcl def.art + n c mp While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."
- Job 42:12 גְּמַלִּ֔ים n c mp So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.
Isaiah 3 verses
- Isaiah 21:7 גָּמָ֑ל n c ms and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with much heed.
- Isaiah 30:6 גְּמַלִּים֙ n c mp The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit [them].
- Isaiah 60:6 גְּמַלִּ֜ים n c mp The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Yahweh.
Ezekiel 1 verse
Zechariah 1 verse
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.
At its core, גמל (gâmâl) means “camel.” First canonically at Genesis 12:16, it enters the text early. With 52 verses in 17 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. Its uses concentrate in Genesis (42% of all occurrences). Carrying more than one sense, it rewards its full sense range. See the sense tree, 52-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1581 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 →
- 52
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 52 distinct verses.
- 17 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 17 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #686
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 686 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 52 occurrences in the concordance →
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 52 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 25 verses · 48%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 16 verses · 31%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 21%
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).
- King James Version: Camels 39×, Camel 5×
- American Standard Version: Camels 40×, Camel 6×
- Berean Standard Bible: Camels 46×, Camel 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Camels 45×, Camel 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1581 across 54 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H1581 across 54 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 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 H1581 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1581 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears 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.
- 1. as property (in Hex only J) Gn 12:16 (‖ אתנות) 24:10, 35 (‖ חמורים etc.) 30:43 (‖ id.) 32:8 (‖ צאן, בקר) Ex 9:3 (Egyptian ‖ סוסים, חמורים, בקר, צאן, etc.) Ju 6:5; 7:12 1 S 15:3 (‖ חמור etc.) 27:9 1 Ch 5:21; 27:30 (all ‖ id.) 2 Ch 14:14 (‖ צאן) Ezr 2:67 (‖ סוסים, פרדים, חמורים) = Ne 7:68 Jb 1:3 (‖ צאן, בקר, אתנות) cf. v 17 42:12 (‖ id.) Je 49:29 (‖ צאן) v 32 Zc 14:15 (‖ סוס, חמור, פרד) [4 times ‖ סוס and other words, Ex 9:3 (Egyptians), Zc 14:15 (enemies of Israel), Ezr 2:67 = Ne 7:68 (returned exiles)]. e.g. Genesis 12:16
- 2. as beasts of burden Gn 24:10 cf. v 11, 14, 19, 20, 22, 30, 31, 32(×2), 44, 46(×2) 37:25 (all J), 1 K 10:2 2 K 8:9 1 Ch 12:41 2 Ch 9:1 Is 30:6 (עַל־דַּבֶּשֶׁת ג׳), Is 60:6 (‖ בִּכְרֵי מִדְיָן). e.g. Genesis 24:10
- 3. for riding Gn 24:61, 63, 64 (all J), 31:17, 34 (both E) 1 S 30:17, cf. also Ju 8:21, 26, and particularly Is 21:7 רֶכֶב גמל; a riding-company of camels i.e. a troop of camels with riders; נְוֵה גמלים an abode for camels, in prediction against Ammon Ez 25:5, (‖ מִרְבַּץ צאן). e.g. Genesis 24:61
- 4. forbidden as food Lv 11:4 (P) Dt 14:7. e.g. Leviticus 11:4
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.m. Gn 24:10 + 9 times, f. & m. Gn 32:16 (cf. infr.), camel (NH id. Arabic جَمَلٌ (جَمْلٌ), Ethiopic ገመል Assyrian gammalu COTGloss Aramaic גַּמְלָא, ܓܰܡܠܴܐ; Palm. Tariff pl. גמלין ReckendorfZMG 1888, 401; √גמל but meaning of √ dub.; BoHieroz i. 73 der. from גמל requite, so LagBN 20, 49 (camel as μνησίκακος); v. also conject. in MV, Dl in HptF 70 HptBAS i 171; A. v. KremerSemit. Culturentlehn., 2 HomNS 144 ff.)—abs. גָּמָל Gn 24:64 + 7 times; pl. גְּמַלְּים Gn 12:16 + 30 times; cstr. גְּמַלֵּי Gn 24:10; sf. גְּמַלֶּיךָ Gn 24:14 + 3 times; גְּמַלָּיו Gn 24:20; גְּמַלֵּיהֶם Gn 37:25 + 6 times;—camel,
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from גמל (gâmal) (H1580) — to recompense.
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.
גָּמַל
- (b. h.) [to tie, couple, load,]
- 1. to load (good or evil) on, to deal with, esp. to do good to. Gen. R. s. 38 שהוא ג׳ עליך תחלה for he was the first to do thee good; Yalk. Prov. 956.—Sabb. 104ᵃ גְּמוֹל דלים, v. גימ"ל.—ג׳ חסד to be kind, charitable. Ib. שכן דרכו של גּוֹמֵל חסדים וכ׳ (Ms. M. דרכן של גּוֹמְלֵי) for such is the habit of the charitable to run after the poor. Yeb. 79ᵃ; a. v. fr.
- 2. to make even, repay. Dem. IV, 6 אע"פ שהן כגוֹמְלִין זה את זה although it has the appearance as if they were repaying each other (by mutual recommendations). Ab. Zar. 61ᵇ חיישינן לגומלין we reject witnesses suspected of favoring each other; Keth. 24ᵃ
- 3. (cmp. גָּמַר a. חֲסַל) [to finish,] to wean. B. Mets. 87ᵃ on that day שג׳ אברהם וכ׳ when Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac &c.; Yalk. Gen. 93; Deut. R. s. 1 שמל (corr. acc.). Pesik. R. s. 25 תינוק הגָּמוּל וכ׳ a Jewish infant just weaned; a. fr.
- 4. to ripen, be fully developed. Par. XI, 7 yon’koth are גבעולין שלא גָמְלוּ capsules of hyssop which are not yet developed; (Tosef. ib. XI (X), 7 גָּמְרוּ).
- to be weaned. Gen. R. s. 53 נ׳ מחלבו weaned from his mother’s milk; ג׳ מיה"ר weaned from the evil inclination (able to resist temptation); a. fr.
- to take turns.—Y. M. Kat. III, 82ᵇ bot. פרה מְגַמֶּלֶת a cow engaged for working in a team in turns; v. גַּמְלָא I, 2.
גְּמַל
- , to do one good or evil. Targ. I Sam. XXIV, 18; a. fr.—Y. Ḥag. II, 77ᵈ bot. the whole town stopped work מִיגְמוֹל ליה חסד in order to show kindness to him (to give him an honorable funeral).—Y. Ab. Zar. III, 42ᶜ top גָּמֵיל חיסדא the charitable.
- to be laden with; to be bestowed. Targ. II Esth. V, 2 (Targ. I אטעינת, h. text וַתִּשָּׂא).—Y. Ḥag. l. c. לא איתג׳ ליה חסד nobody cared to attend his funeral, v. supra.
גָּמָל
- [carrier of loads,] camel. Bekh. 8ᵃ. Ber. 56ᵇ; a. fr.—Pl. גְּמַלִּים. Keth. 67ᵃ ג׳ של ערביא וכ׳ camels in Arabia can be levied for a wife’s portion (כְּתוּבָּה); a. fr.
גַּמָּל
- (preced.) camel-driver. Kidd. IV, 13 one must not rear his son to be חמר ג׳ וכ׳ an ass-driver, or a camel-driver &c.; Y. ib. IV, end, 66ᶜ; a. e.—Pl. גַּמָּלִין. Ib.—Y. M. Kat. III, 62ᵃ bot. גַּמָּלָיו his drivers.—חַמָּר (וְ)גַמָּל ass-driver and camel-driver in one person (the camel-driver walking by the head of his beast, the ass-driver behind), one walking forward and backward, i.e. one who, owing to the loss of the object with which he appointed the central point for the movements of the day (v. עֵירוּב), may walk only from his home to that spot and back. Erub. III, 4 (35ᵃ); Tosef. ib. V (IV), 2; Y. ib. III, 21ᵇ top.
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 47 distinct written forms H1581 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1581, 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
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.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. 3 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 47 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 52 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 12:16
- Exodus 9:3
- Leviticus 11:4
- Deuteronomy 14:7
- Judges 6:5
- 1 Samuel 15:3
- 1 Kings 10:2
- 2 Kings 8:9
- 1 Chronicles 5:21
- 2 Chronicles 9:1
- Ezra 2:67
- Job 1:3
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.
