Lexicon
גָּמַל
ga.mal
H1580
H:V Hebrew

to wean

37
Occurrences
12
Books
Hebrew
Language

ga.mal denotes bringing a child beyond nursing and, more often, dealing with or repaying someone according to what is done.

The dominant attested use concerns dealing with someone in return for conduct, whether with harm, repayment, goodness, or bounty. A second use describes the point at which a child is no longer nursing, with related participial forms identifying a weaned child.

Senses in use

  1. Deal with or requite in response · dominant

    In Deuteronomy 32:6, the Qal imperfect asks whether the people thus repay the LORD; in Genesis 50:15, the Qal perfect occurs in the brothers' fear that Joseph will repay the harm done to him. The same use can concern favorable treatment: in Psalm 119:17 the Qal imperative asks for bounty toward the servant, while 2 Chronicles 20:11 uses an active participle for those repaying Israel by coming to drive them out.

  2. Bring a child beyond nursing · common

    In 1 Samuel 1:22, the Niphal imperfect marks the point after which Hannah will bring the child before the LORD, and 1 Samuel 1:23 uses Qal infinitive constructs for her remaining and nursing him until that point. Genesis 21:8 likewise places the child's growth and a feast on the day he was weaned; Isaiah 28:9 identifies persons as weaned from milk and taken from the breast.

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the child-related use with “weaned” or “wean.” In the other contexts it varies between “repay,” “dealt,” “recompensed,” “benefits,” and “done,”.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture