Hebrew word · H1557

גָּלָל

hagalal

dung

Dung or excrement, probably as balls or clumps (from the root gālal, "roll").

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

dung

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 Kings 14:10

Range of meaning

Dung or excrement, probably as balls or clumps (from the root gālal, "roll").

Against the English

Most versions: "dung". Some paraphrases soften it to "trash" or "refuse", which loses the disgust.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rare. Compare Zeph 1:17 ("their flesh like dung") and Job 20:7 ("he will perish forever like his own dung", from a related noun). Many scholars link the scornful word for idols, gillûlîm (often in Ezekiel, and in 1 Kgs 15:12; 21:26), with this root, as if to say "dung-gods". That link is plausible but not certain.

Similar words

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 14:10 הַגָּלָ֖ל <the> dung

    Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!

    Here: "The dung", probably balls or clumps of excrement (the root means "roll"). It is the most degrading comparison available: the royal house treated as filth to be got rid of.

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 1:17 כַּגְּלָלִֽים׃ like <the> dung<s>

    I will bring such distress on mankind that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.

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