Hebrew word · H1533

גִּלְבֹּעַ

gilboa'

(Mount )Gilboa

Place name. A limestone ridge about 13 km (8 miles) long that rises to roughly 500 m. It overlooks the eastern Jezreel Valley, with the Harod spring below and Beth-shan to the south-east. The name's meaning is uncertain (perhaps connected with 'bubbling' springs).

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Gilboa = "swollen heap"

a mountain-ridge at the southeastern end of the plain of Jezreel, site of the death of Saul and Jonathan

Also named: gil.ad (גִּלְעָד "(Mount )Gilead" H1568K)

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 1 Samuel 31:1

Range of meaning

Place name. A limestone ridge about 13 km (8 miles) long that rises to roughly 500 m. It overlooks the eastern Jezreel Valley, with the Harod spring below and Beth-shan to the south-east. The name's meaning is uncertain (perhaps connected with 'bubbling' springs).

Against the English

English versions all transliterate it. 'Mount Gilboa' can suggest a single peak, but the Hebrew har often means a whole ridge or highland area.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 28:4 (Saul camps on Gilboa while the Philistines are at Shunem); 29:1 (Israel at 'the spring in Jezreel'); 31:8; 2 Sam 1:6 (the Amalekite finds Saul 'on Mount Gilboa' with 'chariots and horsemen' bearing down); 2 Sam 1:21 (David curses the 'mountains of Gilboa': no dew or rain); 1 Chr 10:1, 8.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 3

  1. 1 Samuel 28:4 בַּגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃ at <the> Gilboa

    The Philistines gathered together and camped at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and camped at Gilboa.

  2. 1 Samuel 31:1 הַגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃ <the> Gilboa

    Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

    Here: The Gilboa ridge, on the south-eastern edge of the Jezreel Valley. It is where Israel had camped (28:4), and where it was cut down while retreating from the valley floor.

  3. 1 Samuel 31:8 הַגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃ <the> Gilboa

    The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

    Here: The ridge at the south-eastern edge of the Jezreel Valley, where Saul's army made its last stand (28:4). The name has 'the' in front of it, as Hebrew regularly does with some place names. David later cursed these mountains in his lament (2 Sam 1:21).

2 Samuel · 3

  1. 2 Samuel 1:6 הַגִּלְבֹּ֔עַ <the> Gilboa

    “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry closing in on him.

  2. 2 Samuel 1:21 בַגִּלְבֹּ֗עַ in <the> Gilboa

    O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.

    Here: The ridge at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley where Saul and his sons died (1 Samuel 31:1). The wording is literally "mountains in the Gilboa," an unusual, poetic turn of phrase.

  3. 2 Samuel 21:12 בַּגִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃ on <the> Gilboa

    he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies after they had struck down Saul at Gilboa.

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 10:1 גִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃ Gilboa

    Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

  2. 1 Chronicles 10:8 גִּלְבֹּֽעַ׃ Gilboa

    The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

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