Hebrew word · H1578

גְּמוּלָה

hagemulah

recompense

From gamal, 'to deal fully with, to do to someone, to bring to completion' (the same root is used for weaning a child and for fruit ripening). Gemulah and the related gemul mean 'what is done to someone' and then 'the fitting return' for it.

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

What it means

dealing, recompense

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 Jeremiah 51:56

Range of meaning

From gamal, 'to deal fully with, to do to someone, to bring to completion' (the same root is used for weaning a child and for fruit ripening). Gemulah and the related gemul mean 'what is done to someone' and then 'the fitting return' for it. It can be good (2 Sam 19:36 [Eng 19:36], a reward or favor; Ps 103:2, 'his benefits') or bad (Isa 59:18; Jer 51:6, payback).

Against the English

BSB and NIV 'retribution' and NLT's paraphrase about punishment are purely punitive. ESV and NASB 'recompense' and KJV/YLT 'recompences' are closer, because recompense can be neutral. The Hebrew plural ('recompenses') is flattened to a singular in most modern versions.

How it drifted

'Retribution' in modern English carries the coloring of vengeful punishment. Gemulah is a word of exact correspondence: the return that matches the deed. Here the return is ruinous because Babylon's deeds were.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 59:18 puts the same two words together: 'according to deeds (gemulot), so he will repay (yeshallem).' Jeremiah 51:6 says 'it is a time of vengeance for YHWH; a recompense (gemul) he is paying (meshallem) to her.' Jeremiah 50:29 says 'repay her according to her deed.' The exact phrase 'God of recompenses' (ʾel gemulot) occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 19:36 הַגְּמוּלָ֖ה the reward

    Your servant will go with the king only a short distance past the Jordan; why should the king repay me with such a reward?

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 59:18 גְּמֻלוֹת֙ deeds

    So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands.

    Here: The plural of a word that means both 'how someone has dealt' and 'what that dealing earns'. English has to supply 'their deeds', but the Hebrew word already carries the idea of a bill coming due.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 51:56 גְּמֻל֛וֹת recompense<s>

    For a destroyer is coming against her—against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken, for the LORD is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.

    Here: A plural: the many deeds done, and the fitting return for each. YHWH is characterized as the God who answers every act with what it has earned.

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