גַּיְא
gay
valley
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word "gay" (H1516R) is a term that refers to a geographical feature, specifically a valley. This word appears 31 times in the Bible, indicating its significance in the ancient culture and literature. The term "gay" is not limited to a specific type of valley, but rather encompasses a broad range of valleys, from natural depressions in the landscape to valleys created by human activity, such as irrigation channels. The word "gay" is used in various contexts, including descriptions of natural landscapes, references to agricultural areas, and even as a metaphor for a place of refuge or safety. Its usage suggests that valleys were considered important features of the ancient landscape, providing fertile ground for agriculture, water sources, and possibly even spiritual significance. The frequency and diversity of the word "gay" in the Bible highlight its importance in the ancient Hebrew worldview. The term's association with geography, agriculture, and human activity underscores the interconnectedness of the natural and human-made environments in ancient Israel.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
31 total occurrences across the text
Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen.
Psalms 23:4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Isaiah 22:1The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
Isaiah 22:5For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains.”
Isaiah 28:1Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!
Isaiah 28:4The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it.
Jeremiah 32:35They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through fire to Molech, which I didn’t command them. It didn’t even come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”
Isaiah 40:4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
Jeremiah 2:23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways,
Jeremiah 19:2and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you.
Jeremiah 19:6Therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.
Jeremiah 19:6Therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’.
Ezekiel 6:3and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.
Ezekiel 7:16But those of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity.
Ezekiel 32:5I will lay your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height.
Ezekiel 31:12Strangers, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
Ezekiel 35:8I will fill its mountains with its slain. The slain with the sword will fall in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses.
Ezekiel 36:4therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
Ezekiel 36:6Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”
Micah 1:6Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.
Zechariah 14:4His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Zechariah 14:5You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.
Zechariah 14:5You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.
Numbers 21:20and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert.
Deuteronomy 3:29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
Deuteronomy 4:46beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck when they came out of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 34:6He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day.
Joshua 8:11All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.
1 Samuel 17:3The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.
2 Kings 2:16They said to him, “See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps Yahweh’s Spirit has taken him up, and put him on some mountain, or into some valley.” He said, “Don’t send them.”
1 Chronicles 4:39They went to the entrance of Gedor, even to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.