מַעְגָּל
maʻgâl · H4570 · Hebrew · 16 occurrences
Thing
Meanings
-
track
The impression left by a foot or shoe on the ground
ExamplesPsalm 65:11 You have crowned the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with fatness.
-
path
Relatively narrow road that connects two locations and facilitates travelling; often extended to denote our journey through life
ExamplesPsalm 23:3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For the sake of His name.
Psalm 140:5 The proud have hidden a trap for me, and snares; They have spread a net at the wayside; They have set snares for me. Selah
-
conduct
Pattern of behavior, with a primary focus on moral and ethical behavior, understood as a journey through life
ExamplesPsalm 17:5 My steps have held to Your paths. My feet have not slipped.
Proverbs 2:9 Then you will discern righteousness, justice, And integrity, and every good path.
Proverbs 2:15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways;
-
encampment
An open area where people are living for a limited amount of time, often for a specific purpose
Examples1 Samuel 17:20 So David got up early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper, and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the entrenchment encircling the camp while the army was going out in battle formation, shouting the war cry.
1 Samuel 26:5 David then set out and came to the place where Saul had camped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army; and Saul was lying in the circle of the camp, and the people were camped around him.
1 Samuel 26:7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him.
How it’s used In 6 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
10 occurrences in 7 groups
- ךָyour 2
- הּher 2
- הֶםtheir 2
- יֹשֶׁרuprightness 1
- צֶדֶקrighteousness, justice 1
- רֶגֶלfoot, leg 1
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- טוֹבgood 1
- צַדִּיקrighteous, just, right 1
What it doesIt is the subject
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- נוּעַto move 1
- רָעַףto overflow 1
What is done to itIt is the object
4 occurrences in 2 groups
- פָּלַסto make level, to ponder 3
- בִּיןto understand, to discern 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
7 occurrences in 1 groups
- בin/on/with 13
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- יָדhand, power 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 7 words
- אֹרַח ʼôrach · H734 · path, road, course
- Both words denote a path or way. מַעְגָּל (maʻgâl, H4570) stresses a physical pathway (a trench or wayside), while אֹרַח (ʼôrach, H734) covers both concrete paths and extended senses such as manner of life or rank.
- נָתִיב nâthîyb · H5410 · path, way
- Both words are concrete nouns for a path, way or road, and either could stand for "path" in many contexts.
- מְסִלָּה mᵉçillâh · H4546 · highway, way (of life)
- Both words denote a path or road; one is rendered "highway, path" and the other "path, way," and they are interchangeable in contexts of travel along a route.
- דֶּרֶךְ derek · H1870 · road, way, path
- Both terms denote a physical path or route, overlapping closely in the senses of "way," "path," and "going."
- מַסְלוּל maçlûwl · H4547 · highway
- Both terms denote pathways or roads used for travel. One specifically denotes a highway, a major constructed route, while the other covers a broader range including tracks, routes, and wayside paths — overlapping enough that either could substitute for the other in describing a route.
- מִשְׁעוֹל mishʻôwl · H4934 · path, road
- Both terms denote a traveled route or path, overlapping directly in sense as words for a way or track.
- חֵיל chêyl · H2426 · outer wall, outer fortification, within wall > town
- חֵיל (chêyl, H2426) emphasizes the defensive/military trench (part of rampart/wall system), while מַעְגָּל (maʻgâl, H4570) emphasizes the trench as a traveled route or channel (related to path/way concepts).
In the other Testament 1 word
- τροχιά trochiá · G5163 · to live, to behave, to conduct oneself correctly
- Greek τροχιά (track, wheel-rut, course) renders Hebrew מַעְגָּל (path, trench, way) in LXX contexts where both denote a traversable route or course of action, sharing the core semantic domain of pathways whether literal or figurative.
Semantic domains 4 entries
- Impact002001001024
- מַעְגָּל denotes a trench or entrenchment, a mark cut into the ground, as with the entrenchment encircling Saul's camp that David comes to.
- Roads001003002007
- מַעְגָּל denotes a path or track, as in the psalmist's confession that his steps have held to the LORD's paths and his feet have not slipped.
- Act002002002001
- This domain is not directly illustrated among the sampled citations, which describe paths and camp entrenchments as fixed features rather than the act of making or traversing them.
- Towns001003002011
- מַעְגָּל's sense of an encircled camp perimeter, as with the circle of the camp where Saul and his people lie sleeping, resembles a settlement-like enclosed space.
Word family 7 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4570. magal or magalah מַעְגָּל noun masculinePsa 65:12 1 entrenchment; 2 track; —…
or magalah מַעְגָּל noun masculinePsa 65:12
1 entrenchment;
2 track; — absolute ׳מ 1Sa 26:5 +, with ה locative הַמַּעְגָּ֫לָה 1Sa 17:20; construct מַעְגַּל Proverbs 5:26 +; plural construct מַעְגְּלֵי Psa 23:3; Pro 4:11; suffix מַעְגָּלֶיךָ Psa 65:12, elsewhere מַעְגְּלוֺתֶיךָ Psa 17:5, מַעְגְּלֹתָיו Pro 5:21, תֶיהָ- Pro 2:12; Pro 5:6, תָם- Pro 2:15; Isa 59:8; —
1 circumvallation, entrenchment 1Sa 17:20; 1Sa 26:5, 1Sa 26:7.
2 track (properly wagon-track), only figurative:
a. in figurative of snares of wicked Psa 140:6.
b. = course of action, or life, ׳מ רַגֱל֑ךָ Pro 4:26, ׳מ Pro 5:21 (|| דַּרְכֵיאִֿישׁ); specifically good, right, ׳מ צֶדֶק Psa 23:3, ׳מ ישֶׁר Pro 4:11, ׳מ טוֺב Pro 2:9, ׳מ צַדִּיק Isa 26:7; bad sense Pro 2:15, Pro 2:18; Pro 5:6; Isa 59:8; tracks of ׳י are those approved by him Psa 17:5; or those traversed by him, דָּ֑שֶׁן וִרְעֲפוּן מַעְגָּלֶיךָ Psa 65:12 figurative of richly-laden cart dropping its contents in its track.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 4 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.