Bible Lexicons

דּוֹר & דֹּר m.

(1)  an age, generation of men, as if the period and circuit of the years of life, from the root דּוּר No. 1; compare تارة time, also from تار to go round, and other words signifying time under the word אֹפֶן. (To this literally corresponds دَهْرُ time, age; Med. Waw and He being interchanged amongst themselves, see letter.) Ecclesiastes 1:4, הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא דּוֹר “one generation goes, and another comes.” Deuteronomy 23:3, Deuteronomy 23:4, Deuteronomy 23:9, דּוֹר עֲשִׂירִי, שְׁלִישִׁי “the tenth, the third generation.” Job 42:16. Judges 2:10, דּוֹר אַחֵר “another generation (age).” Numbers 32:13, עַד־תֹּם כָּל־הַדּוֹר “until all that generation be consumed.” דֹּר וָדֹר every generation, all generations, Psalms 61:7. Joel 2:2, עַד־שְׁנֵי דֹר וָדֹר “to every future generation.” Psa. 45:18, בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר “through all generations (or ages) to come.” So לְדֹר דֹּר to all generations (to come), Exodus 3:15 Joel 4:20 לְדֹר וָדֹר Psalms 10:6, 33:11 49:12 עַד דֹּר וָדֹר Psalms 100:5; Isaiah 13:20 מִדֹּר דֹּר Exodus 17:16. Elsewhere used of past time, a past generation, Deuteronomy 32:7; Isaiah 58:12, 60:15. Compare the pl. below. With the addition of a genitive or suffix, the generation of any one, his cotemporaries, Isaiah 53:8 [This passage has a much fuller meaning]. Genesis 6:9, תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרוֹתָיו “(Noah) was upright in his generations.” The Hebrews, like ourselves, appear to have reckoned a generation at from thirty to forty years (see Job 42:16); but, from the longevity of the patriarchs, in their time it was reckoned at a hundred (Genesis 15:16, comp. verse 14 Genesis 15:14, and Exodus 12:40); and in like manner amongst the Romans, the word seculum originally signified a generation, and was afterwards applied to a century, see Censorinus De Die Natali, cap. xvii. The idea of age, or generation being neglected, it often means a race of men [vice versâ, Gr. γενεὰ, primarily race, hence generation], in a good sense, Psalms 14:5, 24:6 73:15 112:2 in a bad sense (like the Germ. Kace), Deuteronomy 32:5, דּוֹר עִקֵּשׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּל “a froward and perverse race.” Deuteronomy 32:20. Jeremiah 7:29, דֹּר עֶבְרָתוֹ “the race of his anger,” those with whom God is angry.

(2) habitation (like the Arab. دَارُ), see the root No. 2. Isaiah 38:12. Psalms 49:20, דּוֹר אֲבוֹתָיו “the house of their fathers,” i.e. the grave.

In the plural there are two forms (both masc. Job 42:16), דּוֹרִים and דּוֹרוֹת. The former occurs in one expression, דּוֹר דּוֹרִים for ever and ever, signifying perpetuity, Psalms 72:5, 102:25 Isaiah 51:8 the latter is frequently used of generations, ages to come, Leviticus 23:43, לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹּרֹתֵיכֶם. Leviticus 22:3. Numbers 9:10, לָכֶם אוֹ לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם “to you, or to your posterity;” Numbers 15:14 especially in the legislatorial phrase, חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם a perpetual law (to be observed) by your posterity, Leviticus 3:17, 23:14, 31 Leviticus 23:31, 41 Leviticus 23:41 comp. Genesis 17:7, Genesis 17:9, 12 Genesis 17:12; Exodus 12:14, 17 Exodus 12:17, 16:32, 33 Exodus 16:33.

(3) [Dor], pr.n. of a city, see נָפָה. [“The city of a Canaanitish king, Judges 1:27, written also דּאֹר Joshua 17:11 more fully, נְפַת דּאֹר (“height of Dor”), Joshua 12:23 נָפַת דּאֹר 1 Kings 4:11 נָפוֹת דּאֹר 1 Kings 12:2 Gr. Δῶρα, τὰ Δῶρα, ἡ Δῶρα. It belonged to Manasseh, but lay in the territory of Issachar, on the coast near mount Carmel. Now Tantûra. See Reland’s Palæst. page 738, seq.; Prokesch, Reise, page 27.”]