A (male) calf (as frisking round), especially one nearly grown (i.e. a steer )
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
עֵגֶל (egel) is a Hebrew noun for a calf, young bull, or steer. Leviticus 9:2 names a male calf brought as a sin offering, Amos 6:4 mentions calves from the stall in a critique of elite luxury, and Isaiah 11:6 includes the calf in a peaceable animal scene.
Reader summary
Full entry for עֵגֶל (H5695) · Open the biblical lexicon
עֵגֶל (egel) is a Hebrew noun for a calf, young bull, or steer. Leviticus 9:2 names a male calf brought as a sin offering, Amos 6:4 mentions calves from the stall in a critique of elite luxury, and Isaiah 11:6 includes the calf in a peaceable animal scene.
The BSB source-word alignment has 35 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include calf (6), calves (5), the calf (5), a calf (3), of a calf (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 32:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (6), Jeremiah (4), Hosea (3), Leviticus (3).
עֵגֶל (egel) is a Hebrew noun for a calf, young bull, or steer. Leviticus 9:2 names a male calf brought as a sin offering, Amos 6:4 mentions calves from the stall in a critique of elite luxury, and Isaiah 11:6 includes the calf in a peaceable animal scene. The noun identifies an animal; sacrifice, food, wealth, peace, or idolatry comes from the setting rather than from the word itself.
The best-known uses concern calf images. Exodus 32:4 says Aaron made a cast calf and the people credited it with bringing Israel from Egypt. Verse 8 repeats the charge, and Deuteronomy 9:16 recalls the covenant breach. First Kings 12:28 deliberately echoes the exodus formula when Jeroboam presents two golden calves and establishes rival worship centers. Psalm 106:19-20 interprets the Horeb event as exchanging divine glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. The offense includes manufactured worship, false representation, transferred credit, and disobedient allegiance, not a claim that a calf as an animal is evil.
Other uses resist a single symbolic reading. Jeremiah 31:18 compares Ephraim to an untrained calf needing correction. Jeremiah 34:18 names the calf cut in two in a covenant-making rite and condemns those who passed between its parts but broke their promise. Micah 6:6 asks whether year-old calves are sufficient offerings as the prophet presses toward covenant faithfulness. Malachi 4:2 pictures the liberated joy of calves leaving a stall. Each image must be interpreted within its own argument rather than made an automatic symbol of Christ, idolatry, prosperity, or judgment.
Egel names a young bovine across ordinary animal scenes, sacrifice, food and luxury, covenant ritual, poetic comparison, and metal images. Its theological significance is supplied by the action and literary setting.
Aaron fashions a cast calf, and the people attribute the exodus to the manufactured image.
Aaron is instructed to take a male calf for a sin offering at the inauguration of priestly ministry.
Jeroboam makes two golden calves and repeats the exodus attribution while redirecting Israel's worship.
The psalm recalls the calf at Horeb as an exchange of God's glory for a creature image.
Ephraim describes himself as an untrained calf disciplined by God and asks to be restored.
Covenant breakers are judged in relation to the calf they cut and the pieces through which they passed.
Calves from the stall form part of the prophet's indictment of complacent luxury amid communal ruin.
The worshiper asks about approaching God with year-old calves before the passage exposes inadequate ritual calculations.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Young bovine denoting vigor and fertility; theologically freighted by idolatry (golden calf) and sacrifice.
Young bovine denoting vigor and fertility; theologically freighted by idolatry (golden calf) and sacrifice.
a (male) calf (as frisking round), especially one nearly grown (i.e. a steer) BDB: calf Usage: bullock, calf.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 35 lexical occurrence verses.
עֵגֶל is built from this root:
Central symbol of false worship.Hosea 10:1-8
Symbol of idolatrous worship.Hosea 8:1-7
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Egel can expose how a good creature becomes a false god when people manufacture a manageable image, transfer God's saving credit to it, and reorganize worship around political convenience. The same animal can also be a commanded offering, a sign of luxury, an image of teachability, or a picture of released joy. This range helps preachers avoid saying that objects, aesthetics, or traditions are automatically idolatrous.
The sharper question is whether a practice obeys God's word, tells the truth about God, protects covenant loyalty, and resists using worship to secure power. Jeremiah 34 adds that solemn ritual cannot compensate for broken promises, and Amos 6 warns that abundance can numb people to a community's suffering.
Exod.32.4
H5695 is an animal noun, not an automatic cultic category. Metal calf images, sacrificial calves, food animals, and poetic calves share the lexeme but not the same evaluation.
Luke 15's fattened calf belongs to the father's celebration of a returning son and uses Greek vocabulary. Christian teaching may compare celebration, sacrifice, and idolatry themes, but it should not present every calf as a direct christological symbol.