gamal · camel

What it means

gamal (גָּמָל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “camel”.

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. A desert beast of burden, the wealth of herdsmen and caravans.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Camel, the animal of burden and riding of the desert peoples and of the east. In the narratives, camels are part of a family’s wealth.

• Camels as wealth Genesis 12:16Genesis 30:43Job 1:3
• The camels of Abraham’s servant and Rebekah Genesis 24:10Genesis 24:14Genesis 24:64
• The camels of the peoples of the east Judges 7:121 Samuel 30:17
• Caravans and gifts Genesis 37:251 Kings 10:2Isaiah 60:6
• An animal unclean for eating Leviticus 11:4Deuteronomy 14:7

Historical and cultural background

The camel “chews the cud but does not divide the hoof”, and therefore it was unclean for eating (Leviticus 11:4). The sign that Abraham’s servant asks for is that the girl also offer water to his camels (Genesis 24:14). The Midianites come with camels “without number” (Judges 7:12).

How we translate it

Always “camels” (47 times) or “camel” (7); in Genesis 32:15 they are “nursing camels”, because the text speaks of females with their young.

How it is translated

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

• camels ×47
• camel ×7

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×25
• Exodus×1
• Leviticus×1
• Deuteronomy×1
• Judges×4
• 1 Samuel×3
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×3
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 12:16

  He dealt well with Abram because of her, and he had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male slaves, female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.

• Genesis 24:10

  The servant took ten camels from the camels of his lord and went, with all kinds of good things of his lord in his hand. He rose and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor.

• Genesis 24:11

  He made the camels kneel outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time the women who draw water go out.

• Genesis 24:14

  Let it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels,’ she is the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown loyal love to my lord.”

• Genesis 24:19

  When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.”

• Genesis 24:20

  She quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.

• Genesis 24:22

  When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring of half a shekel in weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels of gold in weight,

• Genesis 24:30

  When he saw the ring and the bracelets on the hands of his sister, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and look, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

• Genesis 24:31

  He said, “Come in, blessed of YHWH! Why do you stand outside? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

• Genesis 24:32

  The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels and gave straw and fodder to the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

• Genesis 24:35

  YHWH has blessed my lord greatly, and he has become great. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male slaves and female slaves, camels and donkeys.

• Genesis 24:44

  and who says to me, “Drink, you too, and I will also draw water for your camels,” she is the woman whom YHWH has appointed for the son of my lord.’

• Genesis 24:46

  She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels too.

• Genesis 24:61

  Rebekah and her girls rose and rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went.

• Genesis 24:63

  Isaac went out to meditate in the field as evening drew near; he lifted up his eyes and saw, and look, camels were coming.

• Genesis 24:64

  Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac, and she got down from the camel.

• Genesis 30:43

  The man increased exceedingly, and he had many flocks, female slaves and male slaves, camels and donkeys.

• Genesis 31:17

  Then Jacob rose and put his children and his wives on the camels.

• Genesis 31:34

  Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the saddle of the camel and sat on them. Laban felt through the whole tent but did not find them.

• Genesis 32:7

  Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the cattle, and the camels, into two camps.

• Genesis 32:15

  thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.

• Genesis 37:25

  Then they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted their eyes and looked, and look, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying aromatic gum, balm, and ladanum, on their way to take it down to Egypt.

• Exodus 9:3

  look, the hand of YHWH will be on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the cattle, and on the flocks, with a very severe pestilence.

• Leviticus 11:4

  But these you shall not eat, among those that chew the cud or among those that divide the hoof: the camel, for it chews the cud but does not divide the hoof; it shall be unclean for you.

• Deuteronomy 14:7

  But these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that have the hoof parted in two: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof; they are unclean for you.

• Judges 6:5

  For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, and they would come like locusts in multitude; both they and their camels were without number; and they came into the land to destroy it.

• Judges 7:12

  Midian and Amalek and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley like locusts in multitude; and their camels were without number, like the sand that is on the shore of the sea in multitude.

• Judges 8:21

  Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon rose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

• Judges 8:26

  The weight of the earrings of gold that he requested was a thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents, the pendants, and the garments of purple that were on the kings of Midian, and besides the necklaces that were on the necks of their camels.

• 1 Samuel 15:3

  Now go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that he has; do not spare him, but put to death from man to woman, from child to nursing infant, from ox to lamb, from camel to donkey.’”

• 1 Samuel 27:9

  David would strike the land and leave alive neither man nor woman, and he would take sheep and goats and cattle and donkeys and camels and clothing, and come back and come to Achish.

• 1 Samuel 30:17

  David struck them from twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on the camels and fled.

• 1 Kings 10:2

  And she came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, camels carrying spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was in her heart.

• 2 Kings 8:9

  Hazael went to meet him and took a gift with him, all kinds of good things of Damascus, forty camel loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you, saying, ‘Will I live through this sickness?’”

• 1 Chronicles 5:21

  And they took captive their livestock: their camels, fifty thousand; and sheep, two hundred and fifty thousand; and donkeys, two thousand; and human persons, a hundred thousand.

• 1 Chronicles 12:40

  And also those near to them, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, were bringing bread on donkeys and on camels and on mules and on cattle: food of flour, cakes of figs and cakes of raisins, and wine and oil, and cattle and sheep in abundance; for there was joy in Israel.

• 1 Chronicles 27:30

  over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite; and over the female donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite;

• 2 Chronicles 9:1

  The queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon, and she came to test Solomon with riddles in Jerusalem, with a very great retinue and camels carrying spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; she came to Solomon and spoke with him all that was on her heart.

• 2 Chronicles 14:15

  And also the tents of the herds they struck, and carried off sheep and goats in abundance and camels; and they returned to Jerusalem.

• Ezra 2:67

  their camels, four hundred thirty-five; donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.

And 14 more times.