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Hebrew noun (feminine) · H423

אָלָה

alahaw-law'

oath

35 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: ʼâlâh

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H423is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 15 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 29
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H423

an imprecation

The King James renders it: curse, cursing, execration, oath, swearing.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

alah is rendered "oath". It stands 35 times in the Hebrew text, across fifteen books.

  • Six of the uses stand in Deuteronomy, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 24:41And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’
  • The Greek text spells it twenty-nine different ways.

The first use

And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

Genesis 24:41מֵאָ֣לָתִ֔י

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

The word stands in fifteen of the 39 Old Testament books.

The other 24 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • an oath6
  • a curse3
  • into a curse3
  • the curse3
  • the oath3
  • from oath my2
  • into an curse2
  • the curses2
  • and from a curse1
  • and in oath his1
  • by a curse1
  • in a curse1

and 7 more, 35 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

אָלָהalahto swearUses7
אָלָהalahto wailUses1

Other numbers on this spelling

Strong gave these words the same spelling and different numbers, so the site counts and defines them apart.

All 35, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

29 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • אָלָ֖ה4
  • אָלָה֙2
  • בְּאָלָ֣ה2
  • לְאָלָ֤ה2
  • אָלָ֛ה1
  • אָלָ֤ה1
  • אָלָ֔ה1
  • אָלָ֥ה1
  • אָל֣וֹת1
  • אָ֣לָת֔וֹ1
  • אָֽלָתִי֙1
  • בְּאָלָ֔ה1

and 17 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • noun · feminine singular10HNcfsa
  • preposition + noun · feminine singular8HR/Ncfsa
  • the definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singular6HTd/Ncfsa
  • the definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine plural3HTd/Ncfpa
  • preposition + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular2HR/Ncfsc/Sp1bs
  • conjunction (“and”) + preposition + noun · feminine singular1HC/R/Ncfsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + preposition + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HC/R/Ncfsc/Sp3ms
  • noun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)1HNcfpc
  • noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular1HNcfsc/Sp1bs
  • noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HNcfsc/Sp3ms
  • preposition + verb · causative (hiphil), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HR/Vhcc/Sp3ms

Genesis

three uses
  • And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

    Genesis 24:41

    • מֵאָ֣לָתִ֔יmealatipreposition + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: from oath my
    • מֵאָלָתִֽי׃mealatipreposition + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: from oath my
  • “We can plainly see that the LORD has been with you,” they replied. “We recommend that there should now be an oath between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you

    Genesis 26:28

    • אָלָ֛הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: an oath

Leviticus

one use
  • “If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity.

    Leviticus 5:1

    • אָלָ֔הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: an oath

Numbers

four uses
  • and the priest shall have the woman swear under the oath of the curse—‘then may the LORD make you an attested curse among your people by making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.

    Numbers 5:21

    • הָאָלָה֒haalahthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: the curse
    • לְאָלָ֥הlealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a curse
  • And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.

    Numbers 5:23

    • הָאָלֹ֥תhaalotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the curses
  • When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, her thigh will shrivel, and she will become accursed among her people.

    Numbers 5:27

    • לְאָלָ֖הlealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a curse

Deuteronomy

six uses
  • so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,

    Deuteronomy 29:12

    • וּבְאָלָת֑וֹuvealatoconjunction (“and”) + preposition + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: and in oath his
  • I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,

    Deuteronomy 29:14

    • הָאָלָ֖הhaalahthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: the oath
  • because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

    Deuteronomy 29:19

    • הָֽאָלָ֜הhaalahthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: the oath
  • The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

    Deuteronomy 29:20

    • הָ֣אָלָ֔הhaalahthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: the oath
  • and single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

    Deuteronomy 29:21

    • אָל֣וֹתʾalotnoun · feminine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: oaths of
  • Then the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your enemies who hate you and persecute you.

    Deuteronomy 30:7

    • הָאָל֖וֹתhaalotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the oaths

1 Kings

one use
  • When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,

    1 Kings 8:31

    • אָלָ֖הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: an oath

2 Chronicles

three uses
  • When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple,

    2 Chronicles 6:22

    • אָלָ֖הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: an oath
    • לְהַֽאֲלֹת֑וֹlehaalotopreposition + verb · causative (hiphil), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: to put under an oath him
  • that this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring calamity on this place and on its people, according to all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah,

    2 Chronicles 34:24

    • הָאָלוֹת֙haalotthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine pluraltagged: the curses

Nehemiah

one use
  • hereby join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the Law of God given through His servant Moses and to carefully obey all the commandments, ordinances, and statutes of the LORD our Lord.

    Nehemiah 10:29

    • בְּאָלָ֣הbealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: in a curse

Job

one use
  • I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

    Job 31:30

    • בְּאָלָ֣הbealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: by a curse

Psalms

two uses
  • His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

    Psalms 10:7

    • אָלָ֤הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a curse
  • By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.

    Psalms 59:12

    • וּמֵאָלָ֖הumealahconjunction (“and”) + preposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: and from a curse

Proverbs

one use
  • A partner to a thief hates his own soul; he receives the oath, but does not testify.

    Proverbs 29:24

    • אָלָ֥הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: an oath

Isaiah

one use
  • Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive.

    Isaiah 24:6

    • אָלָה֙ʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a curse

Jeremiah

four uses
  • For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused.

    Jeremiah 23:10

    • אָלָה֙ʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: a curse
  • I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.

    Jeremiah 29:18

    • לְאָלָ֤הlealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into a curse
  • For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

    Jeremiah 42:18

    • לְאָלָ֤הlealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into an curse
  • And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to reside there; they will meet their end. They will all fall by the sword or be consumed by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine; and they will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and reproach.

    Jeremiah 44:12

    • לְאָלָ֣הlealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: into an curse

Ezekiel

five uses
  • For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

    Ezekiel 16:59

    • אָלָ֖הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: an oath
  • He took a member of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. Then he carried away the leading men of the land,

    Ezekiel 17:13

    • בְּאָלָ֔הbealahpreposition + noun · feminine singulartagged: in an oath
  • ‘As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who enthroned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.

    Ezekiel 17:16

    • אָ֣לָת֔וֹʾalatonoun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: oath his
  • He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Seeing that he gave his hand in pledge yet did all these things, he will not escape!’

    Ezekiel 17:18

    • אָלָ֖הʾalahnoun · feminine singulartagged: oath
  • Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, I will bring down upon his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke.

    Ezekiel 17:19

    • אָֽלָתִי֙ʾalatinoun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: oath my

Daniel

one use
  • All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.

    Daniel 9:11

    • הָאָלָ֣הhaalahthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: the curse

Zechariah

one use
  • Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed.

    Zechariah 5:3

    • הָֽאָלָ֔הhaalahthe definite article (“the”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: the curse

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →