calf
e.gel denotes a young bovine, often a fabricated cult image, and sometimes an animal used in offerings, food, or comparison.
The term most often identifies a bovine image made and treated as an object of worship. It also denotes an actual young animal in offerings, food, grazing, and covenant actions, and appears in comparisons involving feet, discipline, strength, or movement.
Senses in use
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Fabricated bovine image · dominant
The singular absolute form names the image made from gold in Exodus 32:4; in Exodus 32:8 the APB renders the clause that they made a molten image, bowed down to it, and sacrificed to it. Plural forms identify the golden images associated with Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:28 and 2 Kings 10:29, while Hosea 8:6 describes Samaria's image as made by an artificer and destined to become fragments.
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Young bovine animal · common
In Leviticus 9:2 the singular form occurs in the instruction to bring an unblemished animal for a sin offering, and Leviticus 9:8 names the animal Aaron slaughtered at the altar. The plural form occurs among animals eaten from the stall in Amos 6:4, while Isaiah 27:10 describes one grazing and lying down.
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Figure in comparison or description · occasional
The singular form is used for comparison rather than a literal animal: Ezekiel 1:7 compares the sole of the beings' feet with a calf's foot, and Jeremiah 31:18 compares Ephraim's discipline to that of an untrained calf. Psalm 29:6 uses the animal in the image of making them skip, and Jeremiah 46:21 compares hired men to fattened calves.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited verses, the APB commonly uses “calf” or “calves,” including “golden calves” and “molten calf” for fabricated images. It also presents the term in animal, offering, and comparative clauses; these renderings reflect the verse contexts.