Hebrew word · H1423

גְּדִי

gedi

kid

A kid, a young goat (Gen 38:17, 20; Judg 15:1; Isa 11:6). Kids were the standard meat for hospitality and celebration (Gen 27:9; Judg 6:19; 13:15; 1 Sam 16:20).

Appears 16 times in 16 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

kid, young male goat

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Exodus 23:19

Range of meaning

A kid, a young goat (Gen 38:17, 20; Judg 15:1; Isa 11:6). Kids were the standard meat for hospitality and celebration (Gen 27:9; Judg 6:19; 13:15; 1 Sam 16:20).

Against the English

'Kid' or 'young goat' is accurate. The Greek Septuagint has 'lamb'. Later rabbinic law applied the ban to all clean domestic animals, and then to all meat.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gideon's offering in Judges 6:19 is a kid prepared with broth. In Levantine cooking a dish of meat cooked in yogurt is still called laban ummo or laban immo ('his mother's milk'), which shows how natural the combination was in that world.

From the study of Exodus 34:26

Range of meaning

A kid, a young goat, usually still nursing. Gen 38:17 says 'a kid of the goats' (gədî ʿizzîm), which suggests the bare word could refer to a young animal more generally.

Against the English

'Kid' and 'young goat' are both accurate. A modern reader might take KJV's 'kid' to mean a child, but the context makes that unlikely.

Used elsewhere in the period

A common animal for a festive meal or a guest (Gen 27:9; Judg 6:19; 13:15; 1 Sam 16:20). The Septuagint has arna, 'lamb'. The rabbis, arguing in part from Gen 38:17, extended the word to the young of any clean domestic animal (Mekhilta; m. Hullin 8:4).

From the study of Deuteronomy 14:21

Range of meaning

'A kid in the milk of its mother.' The word gədī means a young goat, often one still nursing. Ḥālāv means milk, a symbol of nourishment and abundance. 'Its mother' narrows the milk to one animal's own source of life.

Against the English

Versions differ only in the verb: KJV 'seethe', YLT and WEB 'boil', BSB, NIV and ESV 'cook'. All keep the literal image, and none generalizes it.

Used elsewhere in the period

The command appears three times in the Torah: Exod 23:19 and 34:26, both right after the firstfruits offering in a festival calendar, and here, at the end of the food laws. Philo of Alexandria (1st century AD, On the Virtues 142–144) read it as a lesson against cruelty: the mother's milk was given to feed her young, not to season them. Related humane laws: do not slaughter a mother and her young on the same day (Lev 22:28), and do not take the mother bird with her eggs (Deut 22:6–7). The rabbis (Mishnah Ḥullin 8; Babylonian Talmud Ḥullin 113b–115b) read the threefold repetition as banning cooking, eating and profiting from any meat and milk mixture. Maimonides (12th century) guessed it targeted an idolatrous custom. A claimed Ugaritic parallel (KTU 1.23 line 14) is textually doubtful (see debates).

Where it appears

Genesis · 5

  1. Genesis 27:9 גְּדָיֵ֥י kids of

    Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.

    Here: Young goats, the usual animal killed for a special meal or a guest. Here the goat kid is meant to pass for wild game.

  2. Genesis 27:16 גְּדָיֵ֣י [the] kids of

    She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

  3. Genesis 38:17 גְּדִֽי־ a kid of

    “I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”

  4. Genesis 38:20 גְּדִ֣י [the] kid of

    Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

  5. Genesis 38:23 הַגְּדִ֣י the kid

    “Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 23:19 גְּדִ֖י a kid

    Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

    Here: A young goat, possibly still nursing. Kids were the ordinary meat for guests and festive meals in Israel (Gen 27:9; Judg 6:19; 13:15).

  2. Exodus 34:26 גְּדִ֖י a kid

    Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

    Here: A young goat, usually one still at the age of nursing. It was a common animal for a special meal or a guest (Gen 27:9; Judg 6:19; 13:15).

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 14:21 גְּדִ֖י a kid

    You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

    Here: A young goat, often still nursing. Kids were a typical festive or hospitality dish (Gen 27:9; Judg 6:19; 13:15).

Judges · 5

  1. Judges 6:19 גְּדִֽי־ a kid of

    So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.

  2. Judges 13:15 גְּדִ֥י a kid of

    “Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

  3. Judges 13:19 גְּדִ֤י [the] kid of

    Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.

  4. Judges 14:6 הַגְּדִ֔י <the> kid

    and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

    Here: 'The kid', meaning a young goat, an everyday animal for a meal or an offering. The comparison shows how easy it was: a predator handled like a farmyard animal.

  5. Judges 15:1 בִּגְדִ֣י with a kid of

    Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

    Here: The Hebrew says 'with a kid'. A young goat was a valuable gift and good food for a meal. Here it is a present Samson brings to her.

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 10:3 גְדָיִ֗ים kids

    Then you will go on from there until you come to the Oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.

  2. 1 Samuel 16:20 וּגְדִ֥י and a kid of

    And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and one young goat and sent them to Saul with his son David.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 11:6 גְּדִ֣י kid

    The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.

    Here: A young goat. Like the lamb, it is a baby animal and the easiest prey in the herd.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.