H422 — אָלָה (ʼalah)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H422
Original: אָלָה
Transliteration: ʼalah
Pronunciation: aw-law'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 6 unique verses (7 tokens) across 5 books
First Occurrence: Jdg 17:2 — "The eleven hundred [shekels] of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst..."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; properly, to adjure, i.e. (usually in a bad sense) imprecate: — adjure, curse, swear.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	~4	to swear, imprecate a curse (Hos 4:2, 10:4; Jdg 17:2)
Hiphil	~3	to cause to swear, put under oath, adjure (1Sa 14:24; 1Ki 8:31; 2Ch 6:22)

Note: The Qal carries the intransitive sense of uttering a sworn imprecation. The Hiphil is causative — placing another person under a binding oath-curse. The stem distribution could not be verified by morphological parser (lemma not indexed); the above is inferred from the KJV translation contexts: "had adjured" and "cause him to swear" point to Hiphil, while "cursedst," "swearing," and "swearing falsely" point to Qal.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
swearing	1	17%
By swearing	1	17%
cursedst	1	17%
had adjured	1	17%
to cause him to swear	1	17%
an oath	1	17%
for	1	17%

Note: "for" in 1Sa 14:24 is a second translation token in the same verse as "had adjured." Every unique verse receives a different English rendering, reflecting the word's rarity and semantic range spanning swearing, cursing, and adjuring.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Hosea	2	1.0
Judges	1	0.2
1 Samuel	1	0.1
1 Kings	1	0.1
2 Chronicles	1	0.1

The verb appears exclusively in narrative and prophetic literature. Hosea has the highest density, using it in lists of covenant violations. Absent from the Torah (where the noun H423 carries the oath-curse concept in legal texts) and from all wisdom, psalmic, and apocalyptic literature.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Sworn Imprecation / Cursing¶

Jdg 17:2 — "The eleven hundred [shekels] of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver [is] with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed [be thou] of the LORD, my son."
Micah's mother uttered a sworn curse (ʼalah) over stolen silver; confession triggers reversal to blessing (barak H1288).
Hos 4:2 — "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood."
ʼalah heads a list of covenant violations paralleling the Decalogue; the infinitive absolute form emphasizes habitual cursing/false swearing.

2. Formal Adjuration — Placing Under Oath¶

1Sa 14:24 — "And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed [be] the man that eateth [any] food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies."
Saul uses the Hiphil of ʼalah to bind the army under an oath-curse; the adjuration is paired with ʼarar (H779) "cursed be the man."
1Ki 8:31 — "If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:"
Solomon's temple prayer envisions a judicial oath-ceremony: the Hiphil of ʼalah describes the formal imposition of an oath upon a suspect, with the noun ʼalah (H423) appearing as "the oath" in the same verse.
2Ch 6:22 — "If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;"
Parallel to 1Ki 8:31; identical judicial oath-ceremony language.

3. False / Covenant-Breaking Swearing¶

Hos 10:4 — "They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field."
ʼalah + shav' ("falsely") describes oath-treachery: entering a covenant with no intention of keeping it. The oath-curse rebounds upon the false swearer.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אִישׁ (ʼiysh)	H376	3× (50%)	"if any man... an oath be laid upon him" — judicial context
אָלָה (ʼalah noun)	H423	2× (33%)	verb and cognate noun co-occur in 1Ki 8:31 / 2Ch 6:22 — "an oath (H423) to cause him to swear (H422)"
אָמַר (ʼamar)	H559	2× (33%)	"he said" — introducing the content of the adjuration
מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach)	H4196	2× (33%)	"before thine altar" — oath-ceremony takes place at the altar
חָטָא (chataʼ)	H2398	2× (33%)	sin as the occasion that triggers the oath-ceremony
בְּרִית (beriyth)	H1285	1× (17%)	"swearing falsely in making a covenant" — oath within covenant-making
אָרַר (ʼarar)	H779	1× (17%)	"cursed be the man" — the ʼarar pronouncement that executes the ʼalah adjuration

Word Family / Cognates¶

H423 אָלָה (ʼalah) — feminine noun derived from H422: an imprecation, oath-curse (32 verses). The noun is far more common than the verb.
H421 אָלָה (ʼalah) — listed in the same semantic domain (Curse); related form.

Synonyms (SDBH)¶

H1285 בְּרִית (beriyth) — covenant (listed as synonym in SDBH; ʼalah is the sworn-imprecation component of the beriyth)
H7523 רָצַח (ratsach) — murder (SDBH co-domain word appearing in the Hosea 4:2 Decalogue-violation list)
H1589 גָּנַב (ganab) — steal (SDBH co-domain word from Hos 4:2)
H3584 כָּחַשׁ (kachash) — lie, deny (SDBH co-domain word)
H5003 נָאַף (naʼaph) — commit adultery (SDBH co-domain word from Hos 4:2)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
שָׁבַע (shavaʻ)	H7650	"swear," "adjure" (187v vs 6v)	shavaʻ = promissory oath ("seven oneself"); ʼalah = oath with inherent curse/imprecation element
אָרַר (ʼarar)	H779	"curse" (52v vs 6v)	ʼarar = to formally execrate/pronounce cursed; ʼalah = to bind by oath-curse (includes both the swearing and the curse)
קָלַל (qalal)	H7043	"curse" (82v vs 6v)	qalal = to make light of, vilify, belittle; ʼalah = solemn imprecation in legal/covenantal context

Semantic Domains¶

Curse [002003002008] — with H423 ʼalah (noun), H779 ʼarar, H2194 zaʻam, H3994 meʼerah, H6895 qabab, H7043 qalal
Shout [002004001009005] — with H1518 giyach, H1906 hed, H2050 huwth, H1959 heydad, H2199 zaʻaq
Test [002004002012] — with H974 bachan, H5254 nacah, H6884 tsaraph

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
ἀρά (ara) G685	3	8.71	Primary equivalent — imprecation, prayer-curse (same primary equivalent as H423)
λαμβάνω (lambano) G2983	3	3.52	"to receive/take" — contextual verb in the oath-ceremony passages, not a semantic equivalent

The dominant LXX equivalent ἀρά (ara, G685) captures the oath-curse sense. The same Greek word is the primary equivalent for the noun H423, confirming the tight semantic bond between verb and noun. The low co-occurrence count (3) reflects the word's overall rarity.