StrongerBible

gedulah

גְּדוּלָּה

HebrewH1420greatness, great things, ...

Appears 12 times · tap a cell to see the verses

2Sa 7:212Sa 7:231Ch 17:19 (2×)1Ch 17:211Ch 29:11Est 1:4Est 6:3Est 10:2Psa 71:21Psa 145:3Psa 145:6
Root family
Word studygeh-doo-LAHnoun

What gedulah means

greatness: the towering stature of God or the high standing of a person, together with the great deeds and public honor that make it visible

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

Hebrew already has an ordinary adjective for "great" (גָּדוֹל) and a verb for growing great or making someone great (גָּדַל). This word is the noun that belongs with them. It does not call something great; it names the greatness itself, as a thing that can be put on show, told about, increased, or handed to someone.

When the greatness is God's, it has no floor. Psalm 145:3 says no one can search it out, and the lines around it answer that by reciting what he has done, because in the Bible God's greatness is not an idea admired from a distance but a record of rescue that can be retold. That is why the same word slides between the quality and the acts: David can say God "has done all this greatness" and mean the promise just made to him.

The other half of the word's life is social. In Esther the greatness on display is a Persian king's half year of pageantry, and then the rank that same king hands to Mordecai, who had been nobody at court. Nothing sacred clings to the word itself: it names stature, whoever holds it. David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:11 puts it at the head of a short list that also names strength (גְּבוּרָה) and splendor (הוֹד), where it is the broadest term of the set and the others fill it in.

Nuances

1athe greatness of God: his stature as the one no one can measure or get to the bottom of
TranslatabilityDirect
1Ch 29:11Psa 145:3Psa 145:6
1bthe great things God has done: the acts of rescue and promise in which his greatness became visible
2Sa 7:212Sa 7:231Ch 17:19 (2×)1Ch 17:21
1chigh standing a person holds or is given: royal grandeur, or the rank and honor a ruler confers
TranslatabilityPartial
Est 1:4Est 6:3Est 10:2Psa 71:21

What scholars say about gedulah

An abstract noun of the גדל root, formed with a doubled middle consonant and a feminine ending, attested 12 times in 11 verses and restricted to Samuel and its Chronicles parallel, Esther, and two psalms, with no occurrence in the Pentateuch or the prophets. BDB, HALOT, and DCH agree on a three-way distribution: the greatness of God (1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 145:3, 6), the great deeds by which that greatness is known (2 Samuel 7:21, 23; 1 Chronicles 17:19, 21), and high position or honour held by or conferred on a human being (Esther 1:4; 6:3; 10:2; Psalm 71:21). The plural at 1 Chronicles 17:19, 21 denotes concrete instances of greatness, i.e. great deeds, and is paired there with נוֹרָאוֹת. The Esther material is the clearest evidence for the courtly sense: Esther 10:2 sets the noun beside the verb גדל used of the king's promotion of Mordecai, and Esther 1:4 places it in a chain with כָּבוֹד, מַלְכוּת, יְקָר, and תִּפְאֶרֶת. Septuagint translators render it with μεγαλωσύνη and μεγαλειότης, while μεγαλεῖα answers to the plural of great deeds; that lexical bridge stands behind the New Testament's restriction of μεγαλωσύνη to God. The Hebrew of 2 Samuel 7:23 is textually disturbed at several points and diverges from its Chronicles parallel, but the sense of the noun is unaffected on any proposed reconstruction (see McCarter).

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. גְּדוּלָּהlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. גְּדוּלָּהlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. גְּדוּלָּהlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. גָּדַלdictionary
  • NIDOTTE, s.v. גדלdictionary
  • P. Kyle McCarter Jr., II Samuel, Anchor Bible 9 (Doubleday, 1984), on 2 Samuel 7:23commentary

All attested forms of גְּדוּלָּה

f s absolute

גְּדוּלָּה, גְּדֻלָּה

2Sa 7:21, 2Sa 7:23, 1Ch 17:19, Est 6:3, 1Ch 29:11

f p absolute

גְּדֻלּוֹת

1Ch 17:19, 1Ch 17:21

f s construct

גְּדוּלָּתוֹ, גְדֻלָּתוֹ

Est 1:4, Psa 145:3

f s construct

גְּדֻלַּת

Est 10:2

f s construct

גְּדֻלָּתִי

Psa 71:21

f s construct

גְדוּלָּתְךָ

Psa 145:6