Gabriel | Definition & Feast Day | Britannica
Gabriel, Hebrew Gavriʾel, Arabic Jibrāʾīl, Jabrāʾīl, or Jibrīl, in the three Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—one of the archangels. Gabriel was the heavenly messenger sent to Daniel to explain the vision of the ram and the he-goat and to communicate the prediction of the Seventy Weeks. He was also employed to announce the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah and to announce the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary (an event often referred to as the Annunciation). It is because he stood in the divine presence that both Jewish and Christian writers generally speak of him as an