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H1544 H1544
N-mpc  |  48× in 1 sense
idols — a contemptuous term for false gods, from a root suggesting dung or shapeless blocks
Gillulim is the Hebrew Bible's most disdainful word for idols, carrying an etymological sting: the root is likely related to gelel ('dung'), making these objects literally 'dung-things' or 'filthy blocks.' Of its 48 occurrences, a remarkable 39 appear in Ezekiel, where the prophet wields the term like a rhetorical weapon against Israel's persistent idolatry (Ezek 6:4-6, 9, 13; 8:10; 14:3-7; 20:7-39). Outside Ezekiel, it appears in the Holiness Code's warning (Lev 26:30), the narrator's verdict on Jeroboam's and Manasseh's reigns (1 Kgs 15:12; 21:26; 2 Kgs 17:12; 21:11, 21), and Jeremiah's oracle against Babylon's 'idols' (Jer 50:2). The choice of gillulim over other idol-words (like pesel or atsav) is always polemical — it does not describe what idols look like but declares what they are worth. Spanish 'idolos,' French 'idoles,' and German 'Gotzen' translate the referent but inevitably lose the scatological contempt embedded in the Hebrew.

Senses
1. idols (contemptuous) A polemical, contemptuous designation for false gods and their images, etymologically evoking dung (gelel) or shapeless logs to express visceral disgust. Overwhelmingly an Ezekielian term (39 of 48 occurrences), wielded as the prophet's characteristic weapon against Israel's idolatry — from the initial command to destroy the gillulim on the high places (Ezek 6:4-6) through the vision of abominations in the temple (Ezek 8:10) to the retrospective indictment of the wilderness generation (Ezek 20:7-31). Outside Ezekiel, it marks Levitical curses (Lev 26:30), editorial judgments on apostate kings (1 Kgs 15:12; 2 Kgs 21:11, 21; 23:24), and Jeremiah's taunt against Babylon (Jer 50:2). All 48 occurrences serve this single contemptuous-polemical sense. 48×
RELIGIOUS_LIFE Religious Activities Idols and Images
AR["أَصْنامِ", "أَصْنامِهِمْ", "أَصْنَامَ", "أَصْنَامَهُمْ", "أَصْنَامِ", "أَصْنَامِهِمْ", "ال-أصْنامِ", "الأَصْنَامَ", "الْأَصْنَامَ", "الْأَصْنَامِ"]·ben["তাদের-মূর্তি", "তাদের-মূর্তিগুলির", "তাদের-মূর্তিগুলোর", "তাদের-মূর্তিদের", "প্রতিমা", "মূর্তি", "মূর্তিগুলি", "মূর্তিগুলিকে", "মূর্তিগুলির", "মূর্তিগুলির-তাদের", "মূর্তিদের"]·DE["Goetze", "der-Goetzen", "ihre-Goetzen"]·EN["idols-of", "idols-of-them", "idols-their", "the-idols", "their-idols"]·FR["idoles-de", "le-idoles", "leurs-idoles"]·heb["גילולי", "גילוליהם", "ה-גילולים"]·HI["अपनी-मूर्तियाँ", "अपनी-मूर्तियों-के", "उनकी-मूर्तियों", "उनकी-मूर्तियों-के", "मूर्तियाँ", "मूर्तियों", "मूर्तियों-की", "मूर्तियों-के", "ह-गिल्लुलीम-को", "ह-मूर्तियों-को"]·ID["-berhala-berhala-", "berhala-berhala", "berhala-berhala-itu", "berhala-berhala-mereka"]·IT["i-loro-idoli", "idolo", "il-idoli"]·jav["brahala-brahala", "brahala-brahala-nipun", "brahala-brahala-tiyang-tiyang-punika", "brahala-brahalanipun", "brahala-brahalanipun-sedaya", "brahalaé", "ingkang"]·KO["그-우상들", "그-우상들을", "그것들의-우상들", "그들의-우상들로", "그들의-우상들의", "우상들에게-", "우상들을", "우상들의", "우상들의-", "우상들이", "자기-우상들을"]·PT["os-ídolos", "seus-ídolos", "ídolos-de", "ídolos-de-", "ídolos-deles"]·RU["во-всех", "идолам", "идолам-", "идолам-их", "идолами", "идолами-", "идолами-их", "идолов", "идолов-их", "идолов-своих", "идолы", "не", "отцов-их"]·ES["los-ídolos", "sus-ídolos", "ídolos-de", "ídolos-de-ellos"]·SW["sanamu", "sanamu-za", "sanamu-zao", "za"]·TR["putlara", "putlara-", "putları", "putları-", "putların", "putlarına", "putlarını", "putlarının", "putlarıyla"]·urd["اُن-کے-بتوں-کے", "اپنے-بتوں-کو", "اپنے-بتوں-کے", "بتوں", "بتوں-ان-کے", "بتوں-اُن-کے", "بتوں-کے", "بُت", "بُتوں"]

Related Senses
H3548 1. priest, cultic officiant (750×)G5547 1. Christ, Messiah, Anointed One (540×)H5030 1. Prophet, divine spokesperson (317×)H5930a 1. burnt offering (sacrifice) (286×)H3881 1. Levites (priestly class) (283×)G4396 1. prophet, spokesperson of God (146×)H6944 1. sanctuary, holy place (129×)G0749 1. high priest, chief priest (123×)H6944 2. holiness, sacredness (abstract quality) (123×)G5330 1. Pharisee (99×)G4336 1. pray to God (86×)H6944 3. holy things, sacred offerings (plural) (86×)H3722a 1. make ritual atonement (Piel) (85×)H6912 1. bury (Qal active) (82×)H6419 1. pray (Hitpael) (80×)H6944 4. holiness (with possessive pronoun) (77×)H6942 1. sanctify, consecrate (Piel factitive) (76×)H2930a 1. Qal: be/become unclean (75×)H7819a 1. slaughter an animal (Qal active) (72×)H1486 1. lot (object cast for decisions) (71×)

BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [גִּלּוּל] n.m. Je 50:27 only pl. idols (= logs, blocks, shapeless things Ges BaudRel. i. 95; Ew doll-images > dungy things Sm Ez 6:4 SS after Rabb.) Vid. BaudZMG, 1904, 395 ff. (cps. Biblical Aramaic גְּלָל (אֶבֶן), Palm. גללאTariff i. 9 = στήλη λιθίνη; and concludes that it was orig. a designation of the primitive stone menhir or מַצֵּבָה) גִּלּוּלִים Ez 22:3 + 3 times + Ez 30:13 (del B Co);