עָלַל
a.lal
to glean
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe word "עָלַל" (H5953B), which is pronounced as "a.lal" in Hebrew, means "to glean". This action refers to the practice of collecting leftover crops, often those that fall to the ground, after a main harvest. The semantic domain of Agriculture & Land indicates that this word is closely tied to the activities of farming and harvesting. This word is used five times in the Bible, suggesting that gleaning played a significant role in ancient agricultural practices. It may have been an important way for people to obtain food, especially for those who were not part of the main harvest or who were in need of extra resources. The repetition of this word in the biblical text highlights its importance in the economic and social landscape of ancient societies.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
5 total occurrences across the text
Yahweh of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.”
Jeremiah 6:9Yahweh of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.”
Leviticus 19:10You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.
Deuteronomy 24:21When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
Judges 20:45They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. They gleaned five thousand men of them in the highways, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and struck two thousand men of them.