Hebrew word · H1709

דָּג

dag

fish

The general Hebrew word for fish and other water creatures (Gen 1:26, 28; Num 11:22; Neh 13:16). Ancient Israel did not sort animals into fish and mammals. Anything that lived and swam in water was a 'fish'.

Appears 19 times in 18 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

fish

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 Jonah 1:17

Range of meaning

The general Hebrew word for fish and other water creatures (Gen 1:26, 28; Num 11:22; Neh 13:16). Ancient Israel did not sort animals into fish and mammals. Anything that lived and swam in water was a 'fish'. The feminine dagah is often used for fish as a group (Gen 1:26; Exod 7:18) and appears in Jonah 2:1 (Hebrew numbering; English 2:1 is Hebrew 2:2).

Against the English

Every major English version says 'fish' ('great', 'huge'). The popular 'whale' comes from the KJV of Matthew 12:40, where the Greek kētos ('sea monster, huge sea creature') was translated 'whale'.

How it drifted

Tyndale and the KJV used 'whale' for kētos in Matthew 12:40, and children's retellings made 'Jonah and the whale' the standard title. The Hebrew of Jonah never names a species.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it 'kētos mega', 'a great sea creature'. Josephus (Antiquities 9.213) and 3 Maccabees 6:8 also call it a kētos. Genesis 1:21 uses a different word, tanninim, for the 'great sea creatures' God made. Jonah avoids the mythic monster vocabulary (Leviathan, Rahab, tannin) and uses the plainest possible word.

From the study of Habakkuk 1:14

Range of meaning

'Fish of the sea': the water creatures as a class. It is a stock phrase in passages about creation and human rule over the animals.

Against the English

All English versions render it accurately ('fish of the sea'). The loss is in what goes unheard: the echo of creation passages, which English readers rarely catch.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 1:26, 28 (the closely related form dᵉgat hayyam); Genesis 9:2; Psalm 8:8 (Hebrew v. 9) has the exact form 'dᵉgê hayyam'. Fishing as an image of conquest appears in Jeremiah 16:16, Ezekiel 29:4–5, Amos 4:2 and Ecclesiastes 9:12 ('like fish caught in a cruel net, so people are snared').

Where it appears

Genesis · 1
  1. Genesis 9:2 דְּגֵ֥י [the] fish of

    The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand.

    Here: Fish: the sea creatures furthest from human reach, and still included.

Numbers · 1
  1. Numbers 11:22 דְּגֵ֥י [the] fish of

    If all our flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”

1 Kings · 1
  1. 1 Kings 4:33 הַדָּגִֽים׃ the fish

    He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

2 Chronicles · 1
  1. 2 Chronicles 33:14 הַדָּגִים֙ the fish

    After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

Nehemiah · 3
  1. Nehemiah 3:3 הַדָּגִ֔ים the fish

    The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars.

  2. Nehemiah 12:39 הַדָּגִ֗ים the fish

    over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. And they stopped at the Gate of the Guard.

    Here: "The fish (plural)." The name probably comes from the fish market. Fish was brought up from the coast, and Nehemiah 13:16 mentions men of Tyre selling fish in Jerusalem.

  3. Nehemiah 13:16 דָּ֖אג fish

    Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

Job · 2
  1. Job 12:8 דְּגֵ֣י [the] fish of

    Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

  2. Job 41:7 דָּגִ֣ים fish<es>

    Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

Psalms · 1
  1. Psalm 8:8 וּדְגֵ֣י and [the] fish of

    the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Ecclesiastes · 1
  1. Ecclesiastes 9:12 כַּדָּגִים֙ like <the> fish<es>

    For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.

    Here: "Like the fish": the first animal comparison. The definite article points to fish as a class, the ordinary catch everyone has seen hauled up.

Ezekiel · 1
  1. Ezekiel 38:20 דְּגֵ֣י [the] fish of

    The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that crawls upon the ground, and all mankind on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

Hosea · 1
  1. Hosea 4:3 דְּגֵ֥י [the] fish of

    Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.

    Here: 'Fish of', the third sphere: the waters.

Jonah · 3
  1. Jonah 1:17 דָּ֣ג הַדָּ֔ג a fish, the fish

    Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.

    Here: The ordinary word for a fish or any sea creature. It names no species and is not one of the words for mythic sea monsters (Leviathan, tannin).

  2. Jonah 2:10 לַדָּ֑ג to the fish

    And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Habakkuk · 1
  1. Habakkuk 1:14 כִּדְגֵ֣י like [the] fish of

    You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.

    Here: Humans are compared to fish, the creatures that exist to be caught. Verse 15 develops the image with hook, dragnet and net.

Zephaniah · 2
  1. Zephaniah 1:3 וּדְגֵ֣י and [the] fish<es> of

    “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.

    Here: Fish, which even the Flood did not destroy. Including them pushes this judgment beyond the Flood.

  2. Zephaniah 1:10 הַדָּגִ֔ים the fish<es>

    On that day,” declares the LORD, “a cry will go up from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second District, and a loud crashing from the hills.

    Here: 'The fishes': together with 'gate' it names a real gate of Jerusalem, the Fish Gate, probably named after the fish trade that came through it. Hearers would have known exactly where it was.

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