גָּדִישׁ (ga.dish)
ga.dish
stack; tomb
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 3 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Word Overview
The Hebrew noun gadish primarily means a heap or stack, specifically one formed by gathering loose material into a pile. In its most common usage, it refers to a stack of grain or fodder, capturing the image of agricultural abundance and order. This concrete meaning grounds the word in the daily rhythms of ancient farming life.
However, the term takes on a strikingly different tone in Job 21:32, where it is used metaphorically for a tomb. Here, the "heap" becomes a mound of earth covering the dead, transforming a symbol of harvest into one of finality. This single instance highlights how the physical act of piling up material can signify both the gathering of life’s provisions and the closing of a person’s story.
With only three occurrences in Scripture, gadish remains a rare word that bridges the mundane and the profound. Its dual sense reminds readers that the same imagery used for storing grain can also mark the resting place of the body, linking themes of provision and mortality in the biblical text.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word gadish paints a picture of order and provision. In ancient farming, it described a neat stack of harvested grain, gathered carefully to sustain life through the coming months. This image reminds us that God often provides for our needs in tangible ways, gathering resources so we can rest secure in His care.
Yet this same word appears in Job 21:32 as a tomb, a heap of earth covering the dead. Here, the stack becomes a mound of finality, marking the end of earthly labor. This striking shift shows how Scripture uses familiar images to speak about both our daily sustenance and our ultimate destiny.
Whether we see gadish as a storehouse of bread or a resting place for the body, it points to God’s sovereignty over all seasons of life. We trust Him with our harvests and with our endings, knowing that He holds both in His hands.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 3 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- from/ [the] heap of sheaves1×
- a tomb1×
- a heap of sheaves1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- מִ/גָּדִ֥ישׁ1×
- גָּדִ֥ישׁ1×
- גָּדִ֣ישׁ1×
Key Verses
-
Job 5:26
You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
This verse uses the image of a grain stack to describe a peaceful, full-life death, linking natural provision with divine blessing.
-
Job 21:32
Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men will keep watch over the tomb.
Here the word shifts from agricultural abundance to mortality, describing the tomb as a heap that covers the dead.
-
Judges 15:5
When he had set the torches on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the olive groves.
This occurrence shows the literal meaning of the word in the context of destruction, where stacks of grain are burned by Samson.