迦勒（希伯来语 כָּלֵב 英文Caleb）是希伯来圣经中的一位重要人物，以其在希伯来人拒绝进入“应许之地”迦南时，对耶和华的信心著称。
摩西带领希伯来人逃避埃及的奴役，来到上帝应许给他们的迦南地的边界。摩西派遣12名侦探（希伯来语meraglim）进入迦南，回来报告那里的情况，每个侦探 代表12个支派中的一个。其中10名侦探回来报告说不可能得到那块土地，住在那里的巨人将会碾碎希伯来人的军队。只有2人——约书亚（以法莲支派）和耶孚尼的兒子—迦勒（代表犹大支派，一作基尼洗人[1]）返回说，耶和华将要把迦南交在希伯来人的手中。
圣经记载道，由于那10名侦探的陈述，希伯来人选择不要进入迦南；由于违背耶和华的意志，使他们在旷野中漂流40年之久。成年希伯来人中，唯有约书亚和迦勒得以活到40年后，进入迦南。
許多書籍和網站將迦勒名字的希伯來文拼寫與「狗」（כֶּ֫לֶב，kéleḇ）混淆，其實希伯來文的「狗」是Celeb，而不是Caleb
Many name books / websites list the
meaning of CALEB as "Dog". However, a simple look in a Hebrew /
English dctionary one will see that "dog" in Hebrew is CELEB, not
CALEB. Note the first vowel is different.
CALEB is actually a compound word
in Hebrew - something that is quite common in ancient Hebrew. Col (Cuf + Lamed)
= all or whole. Lev (Lamed + Vet) = heart. Therefore, CALEB (or COLEV as
pronounced in Hebrew) actually means "whole hearted".
Faithful could be another
translation. However, if you read in the Hebrew Bible the exploits of CALEB (as
in one of the twelve spies who went into Caanan Numbers 13:6 & 13:30), one
will see that he wasn't simply faithful, but that he served the God of ISRAEL
with his whole heart. IE: He was the first to speak up and say, "let's go
and conquer this land," (paraphrased). It wasn't JOSHUA (the leader of the
12 spies), but CALEB who was encouraging Israel to follow God inspite of the
opposition from the other 10 spies.
Therefore, the ancient meaning of
CALEB is: "whole hearted".
