Hebrew word · H1550

גָּלִיל

gelilim

circuit

Something rolled, turned or rounded. Depending on context: a cylinder or rod, a ring, or a turning or folding leaf of a door. From the root g-l-l, "roll" (as in Galilee, the "circuit/district", and gilgal, "wheel").

Appears 4 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

adj

turning, folding (of doors)

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 Song of Songs 5:14

Range of meaning

Something rolled, turned or rounded. Depending on context: a cylinder or rod, a ring, or a turning or folding leaf of a door. From the root g-l-l, "roll" (as in Galilee, the "circuit/district", and gilgal, "wheel").

Against the English

KJV and WEB say "rings", which turns the image into finger-rings or circles. BSB, NIV and ESV say "rods", which keeps the shape of a limb. NASB also has "rods".

How it drifted

"Rings" goes back to older lexical guesses based on the root "to roll". Readers then picture jewellery on the fingers rather than the arm itself being made of gold.

Used elsewhere in the period

Esther 1:6: the palace hangings are fastened "on silver gelilim" (rods or rings) and marble pillars. In 1 Kings 6:34 the temple doors have two leaves that are gelilim, i.e. turning or folding. The LXX of Song 5:14 has toreutai, "turned, worked on a lathe". The Vulgate has tornatiles, "turned".

Where it appears

1 Kings · 2

  1. 1 Kings 6:34 גְּלִילִ֔ים גְּלִילִֽים׃ [were] revolving

    The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 1:6 גְּלִ֥ילֵי rods of

    Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 5:14 גְּלִילֵ֣י [are] rods of

    His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is polished ivory bedecked with sapphires.

    Here: "Cylinders of" / "rods of". From the root g-l-l, "to roll": something rounded or turned. His arms are pictured as smooth, rounded bars of worked gold.

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