H1180 H1180
owner, lord, husband, master (common noun denoting possessor or one having authority)
This masculine noun fundamentally means owner or possessor, extending to lord, husband, and master depending on context. It denotes legal ownership (owner of an ox, house, pit) or relationship authority (husband, master). In Hosea 2:16, God declares Israel will call him 'my husband' rather than 'my Baal,' playing on the term's dual meaning as both 'husband' and the rival deity's name.
Senses
1. sense 1 — In Hosea 2:16, 'my Baal' functions as a deliberate double entendre. God says Israel will abandon calling Him 'Baali' (my master/Baal) and instead use 'Ishi' (my husband), purging the vocabulary of pagan associations. The multilingual glosses struggle to capture this wordplay between legitimate meaning (master, husband) and idolatrous connotations. 1×
AR["بَعلي"]·ben["আমার-মনিব"]·DE["in-ueber-mich"]·EN["my-Baal"]·FR["dans-sur-moi"]·heb["בעלי"]·HI["बआली-मेरे"]·ID["Tuanku"]·IT["[בעלי]"]·jav["Baal-kawula"]·KO["바알리-내"]·PT["Baal-meu"]·RU["Ваали"]·ES["Mi-baal"]·SW["Baali-wangu"]·TR["Baalım"]·urd["آقا-میرے"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† I. בַּעַל166 n.m. owner, lord (Ph. בעל; Palm. id. husband Vog62 cf. BaeRel. 72 ff.; Assyrian bêlu l.c. DlGram. Gloss.; Arabic بعْلٌ husband etc., v. especially NöZMG 1886, 174, Sab. בעל CISiv. 1, 2)—Gn 20:3 + 92 times; sf. בַּעְלִי Ho 2:18; בַּעְלָהּ Dt 24:4 + 5 times; pl. בְּעָלִים Ju 2:11 + 17 times; cstr. בַּעֲלֵי Gn 14:13 + 27 times; sf. בְּעָלָיו Ex 21:29 + 14 times; בְּעָלֶיהָ Jb 31:39 +…