ga.al denotes reclaiming or delivering people, life, or property, and can name the person who acts to do so.

The verb most often concerns deliverance or reclamation, whether the LORD delivers people and life or a person reclaims a relative, property, or an offering. Its active participle can identify the acting redeemer, while several verses use it for the blood-avenger who pursues a killer.

1. Delivering or reclaiming people and life · dominant

   Completed and expected acts of deliverance are shown in Exodus 6:6, where the APB renders the LORD's promise to bring Israel out from Egypt and “redeem you,” and in Psalm 106:10, where he delivers them from those who hate them. In Isaiah 43:1 the completed action accompanies the address to Jacob and Israel, while Lamentations 3:58 joins the action to pleading the cause of the speaker's life.

   Exodus 6:6Psalm 106:10Isaiah 43:1Lamentations 3:58
2. Recovering a relative, property, or dedicated item · common

   In Leviticus 25:48, the Qal imperfect describes a brother who may act after a man has been sold; Leviticus 25:49 extends that possibility to other family members or to the man himself. The same verbal action concerns a house, field, and animal in Leviticus 27:15, Leviticus 27:19, and Leviticus 27:27, where the APB describes adding to the stated valuation.

   Leviticus 25:48Leviticus 25:49Leviticus 27:15Leviticus 27:19Leviticus 27:27Ruth 3:12
3. The redeemer as the acting person · common

   The Qal active participle identifies an agent rather than narrating the action itself. In Isaiah 41:14 and Isaiah 44:24, the APB calls the LORD “your redeemer”; in Genesis 48:16, the participle describes the angel associated with redemption from all evil; and in Job 19:25 the speaker says that his redeemer lives.

   Isaiah 41:14Isaiah 44:24Genesis 48:16Job 19:25
4. The blood-avenger pursuing a killer · occasional

   In Deuteronomy 19:6, the Qal active participle occurs in the clause about the redeemer of blood pursuing and striking the killer. Deuteronomy 19:12 and Joshua 20:3 likewise place this person in the procedures surrounding a killer and a city of refuge; the APB renders the role as “redeemer of the blood” or “avenger of blood.”

   Deuteronomy 19:6Deuteronomy 19:12Joshua 20:32 Samuel 14:11

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly uses “redeem” and “redeemer,” while the blood-related clauses are rendered “avenger of blood” or “redeemer of the blood.” These are presentations of whole clauses in a translation, definitions in every instance.