Hebrew word · H1524

גִּיל

gil

rejoicing

Exultation, jubilation: strong, visible rejoicing, often shouting or dancing. The verb gîl means 'to exult'. Some have linked the root to 'circling' (as in a dance), but that is uncertain. Separately, Aramaic and late Hebrew had a different word gîl meaning 'age, generation' (Dan 1:10).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

a rejoicing

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 Psalm 43:4

Range of meaning

Exultation, jubilation: strong, visible rejoicing, often shouting or dancing. The verb gîl means 'to exult'. Some have linked the root to 'circling' (as in a dance), but that is uncertain. Separately, Aramaic and late Hebrew had a different word gîl meaning 'age, generation' (Dan 1:10).

Against the English

KJV/ESV/WEB 'exceeding joy', BSB 'greatest joy' and NLT 'source of all my joy' all turn the two-noun phrase into a superlative. That is a fair reading, but it loses the build-up of two joy words. YLT's 'the joy of my rejoicing' keeps the Hebrew shape. NIV's 'my joy and my delight' treats them as two parallel nouns.

Used elsewhere in the period

Śimḥāh and gîl appear together as a fixed pair for festival and harvest joy: Isaiah 16:10 ('joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field'), Joel 1:16 ('joy and gladness from the house of our God'), Psalm 45:15. Hosea 9:1 forbids Israel to 'exult like the nations' at their harvest rites, which shows its link to festival worship. The Septuagint read the other gîl ('age') and translated 'who gladdens my youth'.

From the study of Hosea 9:1

Range of meaning

As a noun, 'exultation, rejoicing', and as a verb, 'to exult'. It means demonstrative, often loud or physical joy, frequently in worship or festival settings. It is often paired with samach ('rejoice').

Against the English

BSB and NASB 'exultation/jubilation', ESV 'exult', NIV 'jubilant', KJV 'joy'. All capture the joy. KJV's 'for joy' flattens the intensity.

Used elsewhere in the period

Paired with samach in Ps 32:11; Isa 9:3 (joy 'as at the harvest'); Joel 2:23. In Hos 10:5 the verb is used, unusually, of the idol-priests of Bethel's calf (often emended or read as 'wail'). The harvest-joy connection is common (Isa 9:3; 16:10).

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 3:22 גִ֑יל rejoicing

    who rejoice and greatly exult when they reach the grave?

Psalms · 3

  1. Psalm 43:4 גִּ֫ילִ֥י rejoicing my

    Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

    Here: 'My exultation': loud, bodily, overflowing joy. Joined to the previous word ('the joy of my exultation'), it piles joy on joy, which is why translations say 'exceeding joy' or 'greatest joy'.

  2. Psalm 45:15 וָגִ֑יל and rejoicing

    They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.

  3. Psalm 65:12 וְ֝גִ֗יל and rejoicing

    The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 16:10 וָגִיל֙ and rejoicing

    Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards. No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses; I have put an end to the cheering.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 48:33 וָגִ֛יל and rejoicing

    Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard and from the fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; their shouts are not for joy.

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 1:10 כְּגִֽילְכֶ֔ם [are] about age your

    but he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age? You would endanger my head before the king!”

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 9:1 גִּיל֙ rejoicing

    Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

    Here: Loud, physical, festival joy: shouting, dancing, the noise of a crowd at a feast. Stronger and more outward than samach.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 1:16 וָגִֽיל׃ and rejoicing

    Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?

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