gaal · defile, desecrate

What it means

gaal (גָּאַל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “defile, desecrate”.

To defile, to make unclean; in the passive, to be held unclean and be excluded from a holy service. It is a different verb from "redeem", although it is written the same.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To soil something or someone, leaving it unclean before God.
2. To be barred from the priesthood as unclean.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• defiled ×5
• defile himself ×2
• they were excluded as unclean ×2
• I have stained ×1
• are stained ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Isaiah×2
• Lamentations×1
• Daniel×2
• Zephaniah×1
• Malachi×3

• Ezra 2:62

  These sought their record, that of those registered in the genealogy, but they were not found, and they were excluded as unclean from the priesthood.

• Nehemiah 7:64

  These sought their record, that of those registered in the genealogy, but it was not found, and they were excluded as unclean from the priesthood.

• Isaiah 59:3

  For your palms are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken falsehood; your tongue mutters injustice.

• Isaiah 63:3

  “The winepress I have trodden alone, and from the peoples there was no man with me; and I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my fury; and their juice spattered on my garments, and all my clothing I have stained.

• Lamentations 4:14

  They wandered blind through the streets, defiled with blood, so that no one could touch their garments.

• Daniel 1:8

  But Daniel set it in his heart that he would not defile himself with the delicacies of the king or with the wine he drank; and he asked the chief of the officials that he might not defile himself.

• Zephaniah 3:1

  Woe to the rebellious and defiled one, the oppressing city!

• Malachi 1:7

  You offer on my altar defiled bread. And you say, “How have we defiled you?” In that you say, “The table of YHWH is contemptible.”

• Malachi 1:12

  But you profane it when you say, “The table of Adonai is defiled, and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.”

And 2 more times.