ga.lach denotes removing hair by shaving, whether of the head, beard, or whole body.

The verb most often denotes shaving hair from the head, beard, or body, in personal preparation, ritual procedures, and imposed or prohibited acts. Its attested forms also describe a person or hair after the shaving has taken place.

1. Shaving hair in prescribed or personal acts · dominant

   Piel forms describe removing hair in concrete acts: in Leviticus 14:9 the APB renders the required action as shaving all the hair, naming the head, beard, and brows; in Numbers 6:18 it renders the Nazirite's action as shaving his consecrated head. The same use appears in preparation before Pharaoh in Genesis 41:14 and in the yearly cutting of head hair in 2 Samuel 14:26.

   Leviticus 14:9Numbers 6:18Genesis 41:142 Samuel 14:26Deuteronomy 21:12Numbers 6:9
2. Shaving imposed, forbidden, or used as a figure · common

   The verb occurs where shaving is done to another person, forbidden, or described in a figurative announcement. In 2 Samuel 10:4 the APB renders Hanun's treatment of David's servants as shaving half of the beard; Ezekiel 44:20 prohibits shaving the head, while Isaiah 7:20 describes the LORD shaving head hair, leg hair, and beard with a razor.

   2 Samuel 10:41 Chronicles 19:4Ezekiel 44:20Leviticus 21:5Isaiah 7:20Judges 16:19
3. Having been shaved · occasional

   Passive Pual forms present the result of shaving. In Judges 16:22 the APB says the hair of the head began to grow after it had been shaved, and in Jeremiah 41:5 it describes arriving men with beards shaved.

   Judges 16:17Judges 16:22Jeremiah 41:5

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB usually renders the action with “shave” or “shaved,” and once describes hair as “cut” in 2 Samuel 14:26. Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these renderings confirm the clauses' hair-removal context without fixing every English word to a particular form.