H423 — אָלָה (ʼalah)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H423
Original: אָלָה
Transliteration: ʼalah
Pronunciation: aw-law'
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: H422 אָלָה (ʼalah) — to adjure, imprecate, swear
Occurrences: 32 unique verses (38 tokens) across 15 books
First Occurrence: Gen 24:41 — "Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H422; an imprecation: — curse, cursing, execration, oath, swearing.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
oath (the/an/mine/my/his/into)	16	50%
curse/curses/the curse/a curse	12	38%
cursing/of cursing/for cursing	4	12%
execration	2	6%
swearing/of swearing	2	6%

Note: Some verses contain multiple translation phrases; percentages overlap.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Deuteronomy	6	0.63
Ezekiel	5	0.39
Jeremiah	4	0.29
Numbers	3	0.23
2 Chronicles	2	0.24
Genesis	2	0.13
Psalms	2	0.08
1 Kings	1	0.12
Daniel	1	0.28
Isaiah	1	0.08
Job	1	0.09
Leviticus	1	0.12
Nehemiah	1	0.25
Proverbs	1	0.11
Zechariah	1	0.47

Concentrated in the Torah and prophets. Deuteronomy and Ezekiel account for one-third of all occurrences. Absent from most wisdom literature and all post-exilic narratives except Nehemiah. The word gravitates toward covenant and legal contexts.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Covenant Oath — The Binding Pledge¶

Gen 24:41 — "Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath (ʼalah)"
Gen 26:28 — "Let there be now an oath (ʼalah) betwixt us"
Deut 29:12 — "enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath (ʼalah)"
Deut 29:14 — "Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath (ʼalah)"

2. Covenant Curse — Penalty for Transgression¶

Deut 29:19-20 — "when he heareth the words of this curse (ʼalah)… all the curses (ʼalah) that are written in this book shall lie upon him"
Deut 29:21 — "according to all the curses (ʼalah) of the covenant that are written"
Dan 9:11 — "the curse (ʼalah) is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses"
2 Chr 34:24 — "all the curses (ʼalah) that are written in the book"

3. Judicial Oath / Adjuration¶

Num 5:21 — "the priest shall charge the woman with an oath (ʼalah) of cursing"
Num 5:23 — "the priest shall write these curses (ʼalah) in a book"
1 Ki 8:31 — "an oath (ʼalah) be laid upon him to cause him to swear"
Lev 5:1 — "if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing (ʼalah)"

4. Oath Despised / Broken¶

Eze 16:59 — "despised the oath (ʼalah) in breaking the covenant"
Eze 17:16 — "whose oath (ʼalah) he despised, and whose covenant he brake"
Eze 17:18 — "Seeing he despised the oath (ʼalah) by breaking the covenant"
Eze 17:19 — "mine oath (ʼalah) that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken"

5. Prophetic Judgment — Curse upon the Land¶

Isa 24:6 — "Therefore hath the curse (ʼalah) devoured the earth"
Jer 23:10 — "because of swearing (ʼalah) the land mourneth"
Jer 29:18 — "deliver them to be… a curse (ʼalah), and a reproach"
Zec 5:3 — "This is the curse (ʼalah) that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth"

6. Imprecation / Cursing Speech¶

Psa 10:7 — "His mouth is full of cursing (ʼalah) and deceit and fraud"
Psa 59:12 — "for cursing (ʼalah) and lying which they speak"
Pro 29:24 — "he heareth cursing (ʼalah), and bewrayeth it not"
Job 31:30 — "Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse (ʼalah) to his soul"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
בְּרִית (beriyth)	H1285	9× (28%)	"oath and covenant" — the two elements of binding agreement
בּוֹא (bow')	H935	9× (28%)	"enter into the oath" or "the curse comes upon"
כָּתַב (kathab)	H3789	5× (16%)	"curses written in the book" — covenant document formula
חָטָא (chata')	H2398	5× (16%)	sin as the trigger that activates the oath-curse
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	6× (19%)	curse upon/over the land
כָּרַת (karath)	H3772	4× (12%)	"cut a covenant" — covenant-making formula with oath
בָּזָה (bazah)	H959	4× (12%)	"despised the oath" — Ezekiel's charge against Israel

Word Family / Cognates¶

H422 אָלָה (ʼalah) — root verb: to adjure, imprecate, swear (6 occurrences)
H421 אָלָה (ʼalah) — related form listed in same semantic domain (Curse)

Synonyms (SDBH)¶

H1285 בְּרִית (beriyth) — covenant; ʼalah is the oath-imprecation component within the beriyth
H7621 שְׁבוּעָה (shevuʻah) — oath (from shava' "to swear seven times"); a promissory oath without the built-in curse element
H7045 קְלָלָה (qelalah) — curse as vilification/belittlement; lacks the oath-binding dimension

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
שְׁבוּעָה (shevuʻah)	H7621	"oath" (7× vs 16×)	shevuʻah = promissory oath; ʼalah = oath with self-imprecation (curse activated if broken)
קְלָלָה (qelalah)	H7045	"curse" (14× vs 12×)	qelalah = belittlement, vilification; ʼalah = curse invoked as covenant penalty
מְאֵרָה (meʼerah)	H3994	"curse" (2× vs 12×)	meʼerah = abstract curse-state (from ʼarar); ʼalah = specific oath-curse formula
אָרַר (ʼarar)	H779	"curse" (verb vs noun)	ʼarar = to formally execrate; ʼalah = the noun for the oath-bound curse itself

Semantic Domains¶

Vow [002004001009013] — with H631 ʼasar, H632 ʼissar, H1285 beriyth, H1293 berakah
Curse [002003002008] — with H421/H422 ʼalah, H779 ʼarar, H2194 zaʻam, H3994 meʼerah, H6895 qabab

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
ἀρά (ara) G685	21	9.15	Primary equivalent — imprecation, prayer-curse
παραβαίνω (parabaino) G3845	5	6.63	"to transgress" — context of broken oath
διαθήκη (diatheke) G1242	10	4.72	"covenant/disposition" — contextual companion
ὅρκος (horkos) G3727	4	6.27	"oath" — used when ʼalah sense is purely promissory
κατάρα (katara) G2671	3	6.06	"curse" — used when ʼalah sense is malediction
ἀτιμόω (atimoo) G821	4	7.81	"to dishonor" — Ezekiel's "despised the oath" passages

The dominant LXX equivalent ἀρά (ara, G685) with 21 co-occurrences and PMI 9.15 preserves the dual oath-curse sense. When the translators perceived a purely oath sense, they used ὅρκος; when a purely curse sense, κατάρα. The split reflects the word's inherent ambiguity.