H1805 H1805
bucket, a vessel for drawing or carrying water
This word denotes a bucket used for drawing water. Numbers 24:7 uses it in Balaam's oracle describing Israel's abundance: 'water shall flow from his buckets,' symbolizing prosperity and fruitfulness. Isaiah 40:15 employs it in a striking image of God's greatness: the nations are like a drop hanging from a bucket—utterly insignificant compared to the Creator. In both cases, the bucket serves as a measuring reference for liquid, whether blessing or comparative scale.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The translations ('bucket, cubo') are consistent across languages. Numbers 24:7 uses the dual form 'his buckets' in a blessing about Israel's abundant water supply, a precious commodity signaling divine favor. Isaiah 40:15 uses the singular in a rhetorical diminishment of nations before God—they're as negligible as a single drop clinging to a bucket's edge. Both passages use the bucket as a water-related reference point. 2×
AR["مِنْ-دَلْوٍ", "مِنْ-دِلَائِهِ"]·ben["তার-বালতি-থেকে", "বালতির-থেকে"]·DE["[מדלי]", "von-sein-buckets"]·EN["from-a-bucket", "from-his-buckets"]·FR["[מדלי]", "de-son-buckets"]·heb["מ-דלי", "מ-דליו"]·HI["बाल्टियों-उसकी-से", "बाल्टी-से"]·ID["dari-ember", "dari-timba-timbanya"]·IT["[מדלי]", "da-suo-buckets"]·jav["saking-timba", "saking-timba-timbanipun"]·KO["그-두레박들-에서", "양동이의"]·PT["balde", "de-seus-baldes"]·RU["из-ведра", "из-вёдер-его"]·ES["de-cubos-de-él", "de-un-cubo"]·SW["kutoka-ndoo", "kutoka-ndoo-zake"]·TR["kovadan", "kovalarından-onun"]·urd["اُس-کے-ڈولوں-سے", "بالٹی-میں-سے"]
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
† דְּלִי n.[m.] bucket, כְּמַר מִדְּלִי like a drop (hanging) from a bucket Is 40:15; du. sf. יִזַּל־מַיִם מִדָּֽלְיָו Nu 24:7 cf. Di (on form dolyāw cf. Ew§ 180 a & Anm. 3, also Sta§ 52 a); fig. of Israel’s prosperity.