Word Study for H1455 (גָּהָה)

gâhâh /gaw-haw'/ Ask about this word

Roota primitive root

Meaningto remove (a bandage from a wound, i.e. heal it)

KJV usagecure.

Word Study

In depth

A plain-language study of gâhâh — the range of meaning it carries, how Scripture actually uses it, and where it points. Written for readers who don’t know the original language.

Core Meaning & Semantic Range

The Hebrew word gâhâh, represented by H1455, is a primitive root defined as to remove (a bandage from a wound, i.e. heal it); cure. It is an exceedingly rare term, appearing only 1 time across 1 unique verse in the entire Bible, making its single usage highly significant.

Biblical Occurrences & Contextual Analysis

The sole appearance of H1455 is in Hosea 5:13. In this verse, the prophet describes how Ephraim and Judah, seeing their own "sickness" and "wound," turn to a human power, the Assyrian king, for a solution. The passage states, "yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound." The use of H1455 here powerfully emphasizes the failure and inability of human intervention to remedy a problem that is fundamentally spiritual in nature.

Related Words & Concepts

Several related words provide a deeper context for the concepts of sickness and healing:

H2483 chŏlîy (malady, anxiety, calamity; disease, grief, (is) sick(-ness)): This word describes the state of Ephraim in the primary verse Hosea 5:13. It is also used metaphorically for sorrow, as when the suffering servant is said to have borne our "griefs" Isaiah 53:4.
H4205 mâzôwr (a bandage, i.e. remedy; hence, a sore (as needing a compress); bound up, wound): This term describes Judah's injury in Hosea 5:13. It carries the sense of something needing a remedy, as seen in Jeremiah 30:13, which laments that there is no one "that thou mayest be bound up."
H7495 râphâʼ (to mend (by stitching), i.e. (figuratively) to cure; cure, (cause to) heal, physician): Used in parallel with H1455 in Hosea 5:13, this is the common term for healing. It is almost always associated with God's power, as in the declaration, "for I am the LORD that healeth thee" Exodus 15:26.

Theological Significance

The theological weight of H1455 is found in its specific, singular context, which highlights a critical theme.

Futility of Human Solutions: The word is used exclusively to describe a failure. By turning to the Assyrian king instead of God, Ephraim and Judah sought a political solution for a spiritual malady, but the king could not provide a cure Hosea 5:13.
Spiritual Sickness: The "sickness" H2483 and "wound" H4205 that H1455 fails to cure are representative of national sin and decline. This is reinforced elsewhere, where a sick head and faint heart symbolize a nation in revolt against God Isaiah 1:5.
Contrast with Divine Healing: The failure of the human attempt to cure H1455 stands in stark contrast to the repeated promises of God's ability to heal H7495. While the Assyrian king fails, God is the one who "healeth the broken in heart" Psalms 147:3 and heals his people's land 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Summary

In summary, H1455 is a unique and pointedly used word. Its only appearance in scripture is to underscore the inability of human power to cure the deep wounds caused by sin and rebellion. By being placed in direct contrast with the concept of divine healing found in related terms, gâhâh serves as a powerful reminder that true restoration and wholeness are found not in worldly powers, but in God alone.

How the KJV Renders It

Translation

Strong’s lists the renderings but not their weight. These are counted from the King James text of the tagged verses — the bar under each is how often the translators actually reached for it. Select one to filter the occurrences below.

Grammatical Forms

Morphology

In the Hebrew Old Testament, this word appears as a verb and a noun across 2 occurrences, inflected in 2 grammatical forms — each row is one form, and the bar is how often it is that form. Select any form to read what each part of its name means, and to filter the occurrence list to it.

יִגְהֶה
מַבְלִיגִיתִ

Theographic Context

Context

The people, places, and span of history the verses containing this word touch on — drawn from the theographic tagging of Scripture. Select any name to isolate its verses in the occurrence list.

Biblical Distribution

Distribution

1 verse, all in Hosea — and none of the other 38 Old Testament books.

Every Occurrence

Concordance

Every verse where the word is tagged in the King James text. Filter by book, by the English word the translators chose, by grammatical form, or search within the verses.

Sources. Definition and numbering: James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890). Morphology: STEPBible / Tyndale House (CC BY). Verse tagging: the King James text keyed to Strong’s numbers. Every count on this page is computed from the tagged corpus, not estimated.