What does γάλα (gála) mean in the Bible?
γάλα (gála): Elementary spiritual nourishment for immature believers, contrasted with solid doctrinal meat.
Greek · G1051
γάλα
Milk (figuratively)
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γάλα G1051
Pronunciation gála
What does γάλα (gála) mean in the Bible?
γάλα (gála): Elementary spiritual nourishment for immature believers, contrasted with solid doctrinal meat.
Full entry for γάλα (G1051) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1051?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include milk (5).
Where does γάλα (gála) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Corinthians 3:2. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (2), Hebrews (2), 1 Peter (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It milk 5× 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Corinthians 9:7, Hebrews 5:12, Hebrews 5:13
Show sample aligned rows
1 Corinthians 3:2 γάλα to milk Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular 1 Corinthians 9:7 γάλακτος to milk Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular Hebrews 5:12 γάλακτος to milk Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular Hebrews 5:13 γάλακτος to milk Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular 1 Peter 2:2 γάλα to milk Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row 1 Corinthians 3:2
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 3
1 Corinthians 2 Hebrews 2 1 Peter 1
Source forms
γάλακτος 3x galaktos 1 Corinthians 9:7, Hebrews 5:12, Hebrews 5:13
γάλα 2x gala 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Peter 2:2
Parsing patterns
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular 3x 1 Corinthians 9:7, Hebrews 5:12, Hebrews 5:13
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular 2x 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Peter 2:2
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Elementary spiritual nourishment for immature believers, contrasted with solid doctrinal meat.
Strong's G1051
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 2 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Source Gloss
milk (figuratively)
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Elementary spiritual nourishment for immature believers, contrasted with solid doctrinal meat.
milk: 1Co.9:7. Metaphorical, of elementary Christian teaching: 1Co.3:2, Heb.5:12, 13; τὸ λογικὸν ἄδολον γ., the rational (spiritual) genuine milk (see Hort, in l.), 1Pe.2:2 (in support of AV, milk of the word, see ICC, in l.).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
1 Corinthians 3:2 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
γάλα gala
milk
Read verse 1 Corinthians 9:7 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
γάλακτος galaktov
milk
Read verse Hebrews 5:12 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
γάλακτος, galaktov
milk
Read verse Hebrews 5:13 Noun Genitive Singular Neuter
γάλακτος galaktov
milk
Read verse 1 Peter 2:2 Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
γάλα gala
milk
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 2 Aligned forms 5 Case pattern Genitive (3) Number pattern Singular (5)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Genitive · Singular · Neuter 1 Cor 9:7 · Heb 5:12 · Heb 5:13 3×
Accusative · Singular · Neuter 1 Cor 3:2 · 1 Pet 2:2 2×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Metaphorical: elementary Christian teaching for spiritual infants
Literal: milk from goats as sustenance and livelihood
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
γάλα is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain