Hebrew word · H1602

גָּעַל

ge'altim

to abhor

To loathe, abhor, feel revulsion toward; to push away as disgusting. It is a gut-level, almost physical rejection. A rare verb: concentrated in Leviticus 26 (vv. 11, 15, 30, 43, 44), also Ezekiel 16:5, 45 and Job 21:10 (of a bull's seed being 'rejected', i.e. failing).

Appears 10 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to abhor, loathe, be vilely cast away, fall

1a) (Qal) to abhor, loathe

1b) (Niphal) to be defiled

1c) (Hiphil) to reject as loathsome, show aversion

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 14:19

Range of meaning

To loathe, abhor, feel revulsion toward; to push away as disgusting. It is a gut-level, almost physical rejection. A rare verb: concentrated in Leviticus 26 (vv. 11, 15, 30, 43, 44), also Ezekiel 16:5, 45 and Job 21:10 (of a bull's seed being 'rejected', i.e. failing).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'loathed' and ESV 'loathe' keep the force. BSB/NIV 'despise' is weaker and sounds more like contempt than revulsion. NASB 'loathed' is good.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 26:11: 'I will set my dwelling among you, and my nefesh will not loathe you (lo-tigʿal nafshi etkhem).' The phrase 'your nefesh loathe' in Jeremiah 14:19 is almost a direct quotation turned into a question. Leviticus 26:30 is the threat: 'my nefesh will loathe you'; 26:44 is the promise that even in exile he will not.

From the study of Leviticus 26:11

Range of meaning

To loathe, abhor, feel revulsion and reject. About ten uses. Leviticus 26:11, 15, 30, 43, 44; Jeremiah 14:19 ('has your nefesh loathed Zion?'); Ezekiel 16:5 (the newborn thrown into the field 'in the loathing of your life'). In 2 Samuel 1:21 Saul's shield is 'nig'al', usually 'defiled' or 'cast away'. In Job 21:10 the related form means a bull's seed 'does not fail' or 'is not rejected'. The physical idea behind the word seems to be expelling something and casting it off.

Against the English

KJV/ESV/WEB 'abhor' and YLT 'loathe' keep the emotional revulsion. BSB 'despise' leans toward contempt, which is a little cooler and more mental. NASB 'reject' (and the Vulgate's abiciet, 'will not cast away') brings out the result: pushing them away. The Hebrew holds both together, the visceral disgust and the rejection that follows.

Used elsewhere in the period

Inside Leviticus 26 the word is used deliberately: v.15 'if your nefesh loathes my judgments'; v.30 'my nefesh will loathe you'; v.43 'their nefesh loathed my statutes'; v.44 'I will not reject them nor loathe them so as to destroy them'. Jeremiah 14:19 picks up the same pairing of nefesh and ga'al in a lament over Zion.

From the study of 2 Samuel 1:21

Range of meaning

To loathe, to reject with revulsion. In this passive form (Niphal), found only here, it means roughly "was loathed, was treated as disgusting, was fouled." Some lexicons connect it with a similar root, gāʾal, "to stain, defile" (Isaiah 63:3).

Against the English

BSB, ESV and NASB have "defiled," the current NIV "despised," KJV "vilely cast away," WEB combines "defiled and cast away," and YLT has "become loathsome." No single English word covers both the filth and the contempt.

How it drifted

"Defiled" can sound to modern readers like a technical religious or moral state. "Cast away" comes through the Latin tradition (abiectus est) and can suggest that Saul threw his shield down in cowardice, which the Hebrew verb does not say.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of God's and Israel's mutual revulsion in Leviticus 26:11, 15, 30, 43, 44, of loathing Zion in Jeremiah 14:19, and of a woman loathing her husband in Ezekiel 16:45. The noun appears in Ezekiel 16:5, of an infant discarded in a field out of loathing. The Septuagint uses the same Greek verb here (prosōchthisthē, "became offensive") that it uses for this word in Leviticus 26. Job 21:10 has a causative form with a different sense, used of a bull breeding successfully.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 5

  1. Leviticus 26:11 תִגְעַ֥ל it will abhor

    And I will make My dwelling place among you, and My soul will not despise you.

    Here: A gut-level word for recoiling from something and pushing it away, the way the body rejects what disgusts it. It is feminine because its grammatical subject, nefesh ('soul/self'), is feminine. This verb becomes the key word of the whole chapter (vv.15, 30, 43, 44).

  2. Leviticus 26:15 תִּגְעַ֣ל it will abhor

    and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,

    Here: 'It loathes.' The word means physical revulsion, the reaction of a stomach turning. The verb is feminine singular because its subject, nefesh, is feminine.

  3. Leviticus 26:30 וְגָעֲלָ֥ה and it will abhor

    I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

    Here: A gut-level revulsion that leads to rejection, like spitting something out. It echoes v. 15, where Israel's 'soul' loathed God's rulings, and it reverses v. 11, 'my soul will not loathe you'.

  4. Leviticus 26:43 גָּעֲלָ֥ה it abhorred

    For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.

    Here: A word of physical disgust, almost nausea. Their whole being recoiled from God's statutes as from something revolting.

  5. Leviticus 26:44 גְעַלְתִּים֙ I will abhor them

    Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.

    Here: 'I loathed them', a word for gut-level revulsion. It answers v.15 and v.43 (Israel's soul 'loathed' God's rules) and v.30 (God's soul would loathe them). The loathing is real, but it has a limit, which the next word sets.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 1:21 נִגְעַל֙ it was defiled

    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: A word of physical revulsion, in a form found only here in the Hebrew Bible. The prized shield has become something repellent, whether fouled with battle filth, treated with contempt, or both.

Job · 1

  1. Job 21:10 יַגְעִ֑ל it fails

    Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 14:19 גָּעֲלָ֣ה does it abhor

    Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

    Here: A strong word of physical revulsion, the reflex of pushing something disgusting away. It is the same verb God used in Leviticus 26 when he promised never to loathe his people.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 16:45 גֹּעֶ֥לֶת גָּֽעֲ֙לוּ֙ [who] loathed, they loathed

    You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

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