kābôd

Semantic range

1. 1heaviness, weight (the root kābēd means to be heavy)
2. 2wealth, abundance, importance
3. 3honour, reputation
4. 4the visible glory of God — the shekhinah of later Jewish usage

Glory in Hebrew is heavy. The root means weight, and the metaphor runs from a literal load through wealth and importance to the manifest presence of God — a substance so real it fills the tabernacle and stops the priests from ministering (1 Kings 8:11). English "glory," through Latin gloria, drifts toward fame and brightness and loses the mass.

Restoration scripture recovers the weight. "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36); "this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Glory is not applause. It is what God is made of, and what He is doing.

See also

• δόξαdoxa
• אוֹרʾôr
• קָדוֹשׁqādôš