What does בָּשַׁל · גְּדִי · חָלָב · אֵם mean in the Bible?
בָּשַׁל · גְּדִי · חָלָב · אֵם is a Hebrew phrase meaning "Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk — the chapter's most debated prohibition".
Hebrew · H1310, H1423, H2461, H517
לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ
Properly, to boil up; hence, to be done in cooking; figuratively to ripen · a young goat (from browsing) · milk (as the richness of kine) · a mother (as the bond of the family); in a wide sense (both literally and figuratively [like father])
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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.
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Words in this compound — expand to study each participant
בָּשַׁלH1310properly, to boil up; hence, to be done in cooking; figuratively to ripen
Pronunciationbāšal
Process of transformation through heat: cooking ripens raw material into consumable, edible, or mature state.
Open lexicon entry →גְּדִיH1423a young goat (from browsing)
Pronunciationgĕdiy
Young goat valued for sacrifice and food; etymology emphasizes the animal's browsing behavior, distinguishing it from other young livestock
Open lexicon entry →חָלָבH2461milk (as the richness of kine)
Pronunciationḥālāb
Milk as symbol of abundance and nourishment; distinctly marks promised land's fertility in covenantal language
Open lexicon entry →אֵםH517a mother (as the bond of the family); in a wide sense (both literally and figuratively [like father])
Pronunciationʾēm
Mother as the relational bond holding family together; extends figuratively to cities, nations, and source-origins.
Open lexicon entry →What does לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ (lo tevashel gedi bachalev immo) mean in the Bible?
בָּשַׁל · גְּדִי · חָלָב · אֵם is a Hebrew phrase meaning "Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk — the chapter's most debated prohibition".
Full entry for לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ (H1310, H1423, H2461, H517) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How many biblical occurrences are listed for H1310, H1423, H2461, H517?
H1310, H1423, H2461, H517 is connected to 308 lexical occurrence verses in the lexicon data.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew phrase. Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk — the chapter's most debated prohibition
Source Gloss
Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk — the chapter's most debated prohibition
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups4Aligned forms17
Pielintensive active — emphasizes thoroughness or repeated action10×
ImperfectDeut 14:21 · Exod 23:19 · Exod 34:26 · Ezek 46:20 · Ezek 46:24 · Exod 16:236×
Perfect2Chr 35:13 · Lam 4:102×
Sequential imperfectExod 16:23 · Lev 8:312×
Pualintensive passive — intensive action received by the subject4×
Participle passive1Sam 2:15 · Exod 12:92×
ImperfectLev 6:211×
PerfectLev 6:211×
Qalbasic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense2×
PerfectEzek 24:5 · Joel 4:132×
Hiphilcausative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action1×
PerfectGen 40:101×
Word Origins
לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ is a primitive root - no further derivation.