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H1460 · Hebrew · Old Testament
גֵּו
gev
Noun, masculine
Back, midst, body, interior

Definition

A noun meaning the back or the interior of something — the body's torso, the middle of a crowd, or the inward part. Used in expressions of sitting 'in the midst of' or facing something head-on with one's back to fear.

Usage & Theological Significance

Isaiah uses gev in the famous Servant Song: 'I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard' (Isaiah 50:6). The Servant's willingness to turn his back to the smiters — not fleeing, but in deliberate surrender — is the posture of redemptive suffering. Every lash on the servant's gev anticipates the stripes of the Crucified One. The back that endured the scourging is also the back that bore our burden (Isaiah 53:4). Gev becomes a word of sacrifice, surrender, and ultimately substitutionary love.

Key Bible Verses

Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.
Ezekiel 43:13 And these are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): its base shall be one cubit high.
Job 30:12 On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

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