What does גֹּרֶן (gōren) mean in the Bible?
A threshing floor is a place where the harvest is processed, making grain ready for use. Its significance changes with the events that occur there.
Hebrew · H1637
גֹּרֶן
A threshing floor is a place where the harvest is processed, making grain ready for use. Its significance changes with the events that occur there.
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גֹּרֶןH1637
Pronunciationgōren
What does גֹּרֶן (gōren) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for גֹּרֶן (H1637) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H1637?
The BSB source-word alignment has 37 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the threshing floor (10), on the threshing floor (6), to the threshing floor (4), at the threshing floor (3), the threshing floors (2).
Where does גֹּרֶן (gōren) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 50:10. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Chronicles (6), 2 Samuel (5), Ruth (4), Hosea (3).
What This Word Actually Means
A threshing floor is a place where the harvest is processed, making grain ready for use. Its significance changes with the events that occur there. Ruth meets Boaz at the floor where he has been winnowing barley; the setting belongs to a story of provision and family responsibility. David receives a command to build an altar on Araunah's floor during the judgment following his census.
Micah uses the gathering of sheaves to such a floor as an image of the nations coming under the Lord's purposes. None of these settings makes every threshing floor a sacred site. The ordinary agricultural place can become the location of a significant encounter or supply imagery for prophetic judgment. Readers should follow the particular action, speaker, and promise before turning the location into a spiritual lesson.
How the Bible Uses It
An agricultural worksite provides the setting for Ruth's appeal, David's commanded altar, and Micah's striking image of gathered nations. Location, divine instruction, and prophetic comparison contribute differently in those passages.
- Ruth.3.2
Now is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a relative of ours? In fact, tonight he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
Naomi identifies the place where Boaz will winnow barley that night, locating Ruth's subsequent appeal within an actual harvest setting and a stated family relationship.
- 2Sam.24.18
And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
Gad directs David to build an altar on Araunah's floor after the plague narrative; the command gives this particular site its role in the response to judgment.
- Mic.4.12
But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
The nations gathering against Zion do not understand the Lord's plan; the comparison with gathered sheaves reverses their apparent control without offering a general human mandate for conquest.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itthe threshing floor10×Genesis 50:10, Numbers 18:27, 2 Samuel 6:6, 2 Samuel 24:16
on the threshing floor6×Judges 6:37, Ruth 3:2, 2 Samuel 24:18, 1 Chronicles 21:18
to the threshing floor4×Ruth 3:3, Ruth 3:6, Ruth 3:14, Micah 4:12
at the threshing floor3×1 Kings 22:10, 1 Chronicles 21:28, 2 Chronicles 18:9
the threshing floors2×1 Samuel 23:1, Joel 2:24
your threshing floor2×Deuteronomy 15:14, 2 Samuel 24:21
. . .1×Genesis 50:11
[the produce of] your threshing floor1×Deuteronomy 16:13
and your throat1×Jeremiah 2:25
from a threshing floor1×Hosea 13:3
from the threshing floor1×Numbers 15:20
is like a threshing floor1×Jeremiah 51:33
of the threshing floor1×Numbers 18:30
of this threshing floor1×1 Chronicles 21:22
threshing floor1×Hosea 9:1
to your threshing floor1×Job 39:12
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 50:10גֹּ֣רֶןtothe threshing floorNoun - properGenesis 50:11בְּגֹ֙רֶן֙to. . .Noun - properNumbers 15:20גֹּ֔רֶןtofrom the threshing floorNoun - feminine singularNumbers 18:27הַגֹּ֔רֶןtothe threshing floorArticle | Noun - feminine singularNumbers 18:30גֹּ֖רֶןtoof the threshing floorNoun - feminine singularDeuteronomy 15:14וּמִֽגָּרְנְךָ֖toyour threshing floorConjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singularDeuteronomy 16:13מִֽגָּרְנְךָ֖to[the produce of] your threshing floorPreposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singularJudges 6:37בַּגֹּ֑רֶןtoon the threshing floorPreposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singularRuth 3:2גֹּ֥רֶןtoon the threshing floorNoun - feminine singular constructRuth 3:3הַגֹּ֑רֶןtoto the threshing floorArticle | Noun - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 50:10
Aligned rows37
Books represented17
Genesis2Numbers3Deuteronomy2Judges1Ruth41 Samuel12 Samuel51 Kings12 Kings11 Chronicles62 Chronicles2Job1Isaiah1Jeremiah2Hosea3Joel1Micah1
Source forms
בְּגֹ֖רֶן4xbə·ḡō·ren2 Samuel 24:18, 1 Chronicles 21:18, 1 Chronicles 21:28, 2 Chronicles 3:1
גֹּ֣רֶן3xgō·renGenesis 50:10, 2 Samuel 6:6, 1 Chronicles 13:9
גֹּ֖רֶן3xgō·renNumbers 18:30, 2 Samuel 24:16, 1 Chronicles 21:15
הַגֹּ֔רֶן3xhag·gō·renNumbers 18:27, 1 Chronicles 21:21, 1 Chronicles 21:22
בְּגֹ֔רֶן2xbə·ḡō·ren1 Kings 22:10, 2 Chronicles 18:9
גֹּ֥רֶן2xgō·renRuth 3:2, Hosea 9:2
הַגֹּ֑רֶן2xhag·gō·renRuth 3:3, Ruth 3:6
בְּגֹ֙רֶן֙1xbə·ḡō·renGenesis 50:11
Parsing patterns
Article | Noun - feminine singular9xNumbers 18:27, Ruth 3:3, Ruth 3:6, Ruth 3:14
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct5x2 Samuel 24:18, 1 Kings 22:10, 1 Chronicles 21:18, 1 Chronicles 21:28
Noun - proper4xGenesis 50:10, Genesis 50:11, 2 Samuel 6:6, 1 Chronicles 13:9
Noun - feminine singular3xNumbers 15:20, Numbers 18:30, Hosea 9:2
Noun - feminine singular construct3xRuth 3:2, 2 Samuel 24:16, 1 Chronicles 21:15
Article | Noun - feminine plural2x1 Samuel 23:1, Joel 2:24
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular1xJob 39:12
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular1xJeremiah 2:25
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Avoid promising marriage or material advancement from reenacting Ruth's visit to the harvest setting.
- Do not use the nations-as-sheaves image to inflame hostility toward present ethnic groups or neighbors.
Avoid claiming...
- Every threshing floor is not a divinely appointed worship site; Araunah's receives a specific command within David's narrative.
- Micah's gathered sheaves do not authorize believers to identify their personal enemies as targets for divinely sanctioned violence.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Open, leveled space designed for separating grain; extends metaphorically to any public or communal gathering area.
Source Gloss
a threshing-floor (as made even); by analogy, any open area
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Open, leveled space designed for separating grain; extends metaphorically to any public or communal gathering area.
a threshing-floor (as made even); by analogy, any open area BDB: threshing-floor Usage: (barn, corn, threshing-) floor, (threshing-, void) place.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Time of harvest and judgment, threshing floor as place of processing grain
Showing 1 selected witness from 37 lexical occurrence verses.
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.
For the Preacher and Teacher
The threshing floor helps distinguish a setting from the meaning of an event. Boaz's barley work explains where Ruth goes, but the book's family relationships and later public proceedings explain the significance of her appeal. Araunah's worksite becomes an altar location because David receives a specific word from Gad during a crisis of judgment. Micah draws on gathered sheaves to portray the Lord's purposes overturning the hostile nations' intentions.
The agricultural noun does not independently teach marriage, sacrifice, or the defeat of nations. It makes each account more concrete while the passage supplies its governing claims. Faithful teaching can therefore notice the ordinary place without inventing a spiritual geography in which every difficult season is a threshing floor and every success is a promised harvest.
Anchor passage
Ruth.3.2
Doctrinal connections
- Ruth 3 places a harvest worksite within Naomi's concern for Ruth's security and the family's future.
- Second Samuel 24 ties the commanded altar to divine judgment and David's confession of wrongdoing.
- Second Chronicles 3:1 names Ornan's threshing floor when locating Solomon's temple, giving that site a stated later role.
- Micah 4:12 contrasts hostile intentions with the Lord's knowledge and governing purpose for the assembled nations.
- Deuteronomy 15:14 includes the threshing floor among sources of generous provision for a released servant.
- Matthew 3:12 gives John the Baptist's threshing image its own explicit account of separation and coming judgment.
The Hebrew noun identifies the threshing floor, not the complete process of judgment or redemption. A concrete location and an agricultural comparison remain distinguishable even when both are expressed through the same harvest vocabulary.
From Old to New Testament
John the Baptist describes the clearing of a threshing floor in Matthew 3:12 while announcing the coming One. That passage explicitly develops the harvest image for judgment; it should govern its own comparison rather than making Ruth's nighttime meeting an identical judgment scene.