Bible Names

Galilee: meaning of the name

Galilee means “wheel; revolution.”
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

Galilee in Hebrew and Greek

גָּלִיל H1551

Gâlîyl (gaw-leel') — Galil (as a special circuit) in the North of Palestine

or (prolonged) גָּלִילָה; the same as H1550 (גָּלִיל); a circle (with the article);

Γαλιλαία G1056

Galilaía — Galilæa (i.e. the heathen circle), a region of Palestine

of Hebrew origin (H01551);

Places named Galilee

Galilee in Scripture

“Galilee” appears in 71 verses of the King James Version; here are the first 8.

  • Joshua 20:7

    And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath–arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.

  • Joshua 21:32

    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth–dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.

  • 1 Kings 9:11

    (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

  • 2 Kings 15:29

    In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath–pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel–beth–maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.

  • 1 Chronicles 6:76

    And out of the tribe of Naphtali; Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, and Hammon with her suburbs, and Kirjathaim with her suburbs.

  • Isaiah 9:1

    Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.

  • Matthew 2:22

    But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

  • Matthew 3:13

    Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.