עֵגֶל

עֵגֶל (egel) is a Hebrew noun for a calf, young bull, or steer. Leviticus 9:2 names a male calf brought as a sin offering, Amos 6:4 mentions calves from the stall in a critique of elite luxury, and Isaiah 11:6 includes the calf in a peaceable animal scene. The noun identifies an animal; sacrifice, food, wealth, peace, or idolatry comes from the setting rather than from the word itself.

The best-known uses concern calf images. Exodus 32:4 says Aaron made a cast calf and the people credited it with bringing Israel from Egypt. Verse 8 repeats the charge, and Deuteronomy 9:16 recalls the covenant breach. First Kings 12:28 deliberately echoes the exodus formula when Jeroboam presents two golden calves and establishes rival worship centers. Psalm 106:19-20 interprets the Horeb event as exchanging divine glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. The offense includes manufactured worship, false representation, transferred credit, and disobedient allegiance, not a claim that a calf as an animal is evil.

Other uses resist a single symbolic reading. Jeremiah 31:18 compares Ephraim to an untrained calf needing correction. Jeremiah 34:18 names the calf cut in two in a covenant-making rite and condemns those who passed between its parts but broke their promise. Micah 6:6 asks whether year-old calves are sufficient offerings as the prophet presses toward covenant faithfulness. Malachi 4:2 pictures the liberated joy of calves leaving a stall. Each image must be interpreted within its own argument rather than made an automatic symbol of Christ, idolatry, prosperity, or judgment.

Egel names a young bovine across ordinary animal scenes, sacrifice, food and luxury, covenant ritual, poetic comparison, and metal images. Its theological significance is supplied by the action and literary setting.