Hebrew word · H1710
דָּגָה
dagah
fish
'Fish'. Dag (masculine) usually means a single fish. Dagah (feminine) is most often a group word, 'fish' as a kind of creature or a whole population (Gen 1:26, 28; Exod 7:18, 21; Num 11:22). It never names a species. 'Whale' is not part of its meaning.
Appears 15 times in 13 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
- Range of meaning
'Fish'. Dag (masculine) usually means a single fish. Dagah (feminine) is most often a group word, 'fish' as a kind of creature or a whole population (Gen 1:26, 28; Exod 7:18, 21; Num 11:22). It never names a species. 'Whale' is not part of its meaning.
- Against the English
All the major English versions say 'fish' here. The popular 'whale' comes from the KJV of Matthew 12:40, where the Greek ketos means 'sea monster, great sea creature'. It does not come from the Hebrew of Jonah.
- How it drifted
The 'whale' picture comes from Greek and Latin (ketos, cetus) and later English, not from Jonah's Hebrew.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Jonah uses dag in 1:17 and 2:10 and dagah only here. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) uses ketos throughout and does not reflect the change. Medieval Jewish commentators disagree: Ibn Ezra says dag and dagah mean the same thing, while Rashi, following the midrash (later rabbinic story-commentary), says it is a different, female fish.
From the study of Psalm 105:29
- Range of meaning
Fish taken as a group. This is the feminine collective form. The ordinary word for a single fish or for fish in general is dāg (H1709). Dāgâ appears in Gen 1:26, 28 ("the fish of the sea"), Exod 7:18, 21, Num 11:5, Jonah 2:1–2 and a few other places.
- Against the English
English "fish" serves both as singular and as a group word, so the translations lose nothing here. The only thing a reader misses is that this exact word is a deliberate echo of Exodus 7.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Exod 7:18 says "the fish (haddāgâ) in the Nile shall die." Exod 7:21 says "the fish (wəhaddāgâ) in the Nile died." Num 11:5 records the Israelites' complaint: "We remember the fish (haddāgâ) we ate in Egypt for nothing." Gen 1:26, 28 describes humans ruling over "the fish of the sea."
Where it appears
Genesis · 2
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Genesis 1:26 בִדְגַ֨ת over [the] fish of
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Here: Dagah is a collective, “fish” as a whole class. The attached preposition be- is the one the verb radah normally takes for what is ruled: “rule over.”
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Genesis 1:28 בִּדְגַ֤ת over [the] fish of
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Here: Dagah is a group word meaning fish in general. The attached "b-" is the normal way Hebrew says "rule over".
Exodus · 2
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Exodus 7:18 וְהַדָּגָ֧ה and the fish
The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
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Exodus 7:21 וְהַדָּגָ֨ה and the fish
The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.
Numbers · 1
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Numbers 11:5 הַדָּגָ֔ה the fish
We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.
Deuteronomy · 1
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Deuteronomy 4:18 דָּגָ֥ה fish
or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 105:29 דְּגָתָֽם׃ fish their
He turned their waters to blood and caused their fish to die.
Here: "Their fish," meaning fish as a whole group, like English "livestock" or "poultry." This exact collective form is the one used in Exodus 7:18, 21 ("the fish in the Nile died"), so the psalm is echoing the Exodus wording. The fish were a staple food in Egypt (Num 11:5).
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 50:2 דְּגָתָם֙ fish their
Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
Here: 'Their fish', a collective noun (all the fish taken together), so the verbs are singular. 'Their' refers to the rivers.
Ezekiel · 6
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Ezekiel 29:4 דְגַת־ דְּגַ֣ת [the] fish of
But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.
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Ezekiel 29:5 דְּגַ֣ת [the] fish of
I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.
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Ezekiel 47:9 הַדָּגָ֖ה the fish
Wherever the river flows, there will be swarms of living creatures and a great number of fish, because it flows there and makes the waters fresh; so wherever the river flows, everything will flourish.
Here: "The fish": a collective noun for fish as a whole population. Genesis 1:26, 28 uses the same word for 'the fish of the sea' over which humans are to rule.
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Ezekiel 47:10 דְגָתָ֔ם כִּדְגַ֛ת fish their, like [the] fish of
Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.
Jonah · 1
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Jonah 2:1 הַדָּגָֽה׃ the fish
From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God,
Here: A plain word for fish. The narrator says nothing about what kind. Oddly, the form is feminine here, though the masculine 'dag' is used in 1:17 and 2:10. Most scholars take this as a variation in style or a 'fish' that can mean fish in general, while ancient Jewish interpreters read meaning into it (see debates).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.