Hebrew word · H1552

גְלִילָה

gelilot

border

Gelilah means 'circuit, district, region', from galal, 'to roll'. It is used for 'the districts of the Philistines' (Josh 13:2; Joel 3:4) and 'the districts of the Jordan' (Josh 22:10–11). Qadmon, 'eastern', appears only here. It comes from qedem, which means both 'east/front' and 'ancient times'.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) circuit, boundary, territory

Galilee = "circuit, district"

2) a territory in Naphtali largely occupied by heathen; a circuit of towns around Kedesh-Naphtali, in which were situated the 20 towns given by Solomon to Hiram king of Tyre as payment for his work in conveying timber from Lebanon to Jerusalem

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 Ezekiel 47:8

Range of meaning

Gelilah means 'circuit, district, region', from galal, 'to roll'. It is used for 'the districts of the Philistines' (Josh 13:2; Joel 3:4) and 'the districts of the Jordan' (Josh 22:10–11). Galil, the same word family, became the name Galilee, 'the district' (Isa 9:1 [8:23], 'Galilee of the nations'). Qadmon, 'eastern', appears only here. It comes from qedem, which means both 'east/front' and 'ancient times'.

Against the English

'Eastern region' (BSB, ESV, WEB); 'east country' (KJV); 'east circuit' (YLT, closest to the root picture).

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint transliterates the word as a name: 'into the Galilee toward the east'. This does not mean the northern region of Galilee. The translators treated the Hebrew word as a proper name.

From the study of Joel 3:4

Range of meaning

Gelilah means a district or circuit (from galal, 'to roll'), the region around a center (Josh 13:2; 22:10–11; Ezek 47:8). Peleshet is the territory of the Philistines, the southern coastal plain with its five main cities.

Against the English

KJV 'all the coasts of Palestine': 'coasts' meant borders or regions in 1611, and 'Palestine' comes from the Latin/Greek form of 'Philistia'. Modern versions correctly have 'regions of Philistia'.

How it drifted

Greek writers from Herodotus on called the wider southern Levant 'Palaistinē' (from Peleshet). After 135 AD Rome renamed the province of Judea 'Syria Palaestina'. The Latin Vulgate's 'Palaestinorum' passed into the KJV.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 15:14; Isa 14:29, 31 (KJV 'Palestina'); Josh 13:2 ('all the regions [gelilot] of the Philistines'). The Septuagint here reads 'all Galilee of the foreigners', taking gelilot as the place-name Galilee and translating 'Philistines' with its usual word allophyloi, 'foreigners'.

From the study of Joshua 13:2

Range of meaning

A 'circuit' or 'district': a region thought of as an area or territorial unit. It comes from the root galal, 'to roll, be round', which also gives galil, 'ring' or 'circuit'. The best-known related name is 'Galilee', from galil haggoyim, 'the district of the nations' (Isaiah 9:1 [8:23 in Hebrew]). Elsewhere the word is used for 'the regions of the Jordan' (Joshua 22:10–11), 'the eastern region' (Ezekiel 47:8), and 'all the regions of Philistia' (Joel 3:4 [4:4 in Hebrew]).

Against the English

KJV has 'borders' and YLT 'circuits'. BSB has 'territory', WEB 'regions', and most modern versions 'regions'. In 1611 'borders' could mean border lands or territory, but a modern reader hears 'boundary lines'. The Hebrew means the districts themselves.

How it drifted

The English word 'borders' narrowed after the KJV period. It once often meant the land of a region ('the borders of Egypt'). Today it mostly means the line at its edge.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) seems to render the phrase with horia, 'boundaries, territories'. That Greek word covers both 'limits' and 'the territory within the limits', and it may be the origin of the KJV's 'borders'. Joel 3:4 uses the same phrase, gelilot peleshet, for Philistia as a whole region.

Similar words

Where it appears

Joshua · 3

  1. Joshua 13:2 גְּלִיל֥וֹת [the] territories of

    This is the land that remains: All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites,

    Here: Plural, 'the districts of'. The word means a region or territorial unit. It comes from the root for 'roll, circle', so it pictures an area rather than a boundary line. The area here is the Philistine city-territories along the coastal plain.

  2. Joshua 22:10 גְּלִיל֣וֹת Geliloth of

    And when they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.

  3. Joshua 22:11 גְּלִילוֹת֙ Geliloth of

    Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.”

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 47:8 הַגְּלִילָה֙ the territory

    And he said to me, “This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah. When it empties into the Dead Sea, the water there becomes fresh.

    Here: Comes from a root meaning 'to roll, make round', so it is a 'circuit' or district of land. It is the same word family as the name Galilee ('the district'). Here it means the land east of Jerusalem: the Judean wilderness that drops toward the Jordan rift.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 3:4 גְּלִיל֣וֹת [the] territories of

    Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads.

    Here: From a root meaning 'to roll, go round'. It means the districts or surrounding territories, here the city-states of the Philistine coast (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and others). The same root lies behind the name 'Galilee'.

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