גָּדוֹל
ga.dol
Great (Sea)
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of גָּדוֹל (gadol): "Great" The Hebrew word *gadol* appears 13 times in the Bible with the primary meaning "great." Based on the lexicon data provided, this term functions as a descriptor of scale or magnitude. The notation "(Sea)" in the definition suggests the word frequently appears in contexts describing expansive bodies of water, though the limited data prevents determining whether this represents its primary usage or a particularly notable application. The word's presence across 13 biblical occurrences indicates it served as a common descriptor in Hebrew scriptural language. Without access to the specific contexts of each occurrence, we can observe that *gadol* functioned as a basic adjective for expressing significance through physical or dimensional greatness. The restriction of the provided data to definition and occurrence count prevents detailed analysis of whether the term carried metaphorical weight (such as "great" in importance or power) or remained primarily descriptive of physical magnitude. The lexicon entry's brevity and straightforward definition suggest *gadol* was a fundamental term in biblical Hebrew vocabulary for comparative size and scale, likely one of several options available to express degrees of magnitude or importance in ancient Hebrew expression.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
13 total occurrences across the text
It will happen, that fishermen will stand by it. From En Gedi even to En Eglaim will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many.
Ezekiel 47:15“This shall be the border of the land: “On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;
Ezekiel 47:19“The south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth Kadesh, to the brook, to the great sea. This is the south side southward.
Ezekiel 47:20“The west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as opposite the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.
Ezekiel 48:28“By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the brook, to the great sea.
Numbers 34:6“ ‘For the western border, you shall have the great sea and its border. This shall be your west border.
Numbers 34:7“ ‘This shall be your north border: from the great sea you shall mark out for yourselves Mount Hor.
Joshua 1:4From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
Joshua 15:12The west border was to the shore of the great sea. This is the border of the children of Judah according to their families.
Joshua 1:4From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
Joshua 9:1When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it
Joshua 15:47Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the brook of Egypt, and the great sea with its coastline.
Joshua 23:4Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.