H5927 — עָלָה (ʻâlâh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5927
Original: עָלָה
Transliteration: ʻâlâh
Pronunciation: aw-law'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 817 unique verses (1,122 tokens) across 36 books
First Occurrence: Gen 2:6 — "But there went up (ʻâlâh) a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."
Hapax Legomenon: No — one of the most frequent verbs in the Hebrew OT.
Cognate Noun: עֹלָה (ʻôlâh, H5930) — "burnt offering" (that which "goes up" in smoke)

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount); used in a great variety of senses, primary and secondary, literal and figurative — arise (up), (cause to) ascend up, at once, break (the day) (up), bring (up), (cause to) burn, carry up, cast up, shew, climb (up), (cause to, make to) come (up), cut off, dawn, depart, exalt, excel, fall, fetch up, get up, (make to) go (away, up), grow (over), increase, lay, leap, levy, lift (self) up, light, mention, mount up, offer, make to pay, perfect, prefer, put (on), raise, recover, restore, (make to) rise (up), scale, set (up), shoot forth (up), (begin to) spring (up), stir up, take away (up), work.

The core idea is motion from lower to higher — spatial, ritual, social, or figurative. The causative stems extend this into "bring up / offer up," the most common cultic sense.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Function
Qal	606	Intransitive: go up, ascend, come up, rise
Hiphil	262	Causative: bring up, offer up, cause to ascend
Niphal	18	Passive: be brought up, be taken up, be offered
Hophal	3	Passive causative: be offered up
Hithpael	1	Reflexive: lift oneself up

[Tallied from hebrew_parser.py --lemma "עלה" output, counting Verb.<stem> tags. Qal dominates for simple motion; Hiphil carries nearly all of the sacrificial "offer up" usages.]

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

The KJV renders ʻâlâh with hundreds of phrasings because English cannot match the semantic breadth of one Hebrew verb plus its prepositions. Top categories, collapsed:

Translation family	Verses	%
"went up / go up / came up / come up" (motion)	~380	~47%
"brought up / bring up / taken up" (causative motion)	~110	~13%
"offered / offer / offered up" (cultic)	~55	~7%
"ascend / ascended"	~10	~1%
"grow, spring, shoot forth, increase" (vegetation)	~15	~2%
"rise / arise / rise up"	~15	~2%
"mount up, lift up, exalt, excel"	~10	~1%
Untranslated auxiliaries, connectors (And, So, Then, etc.)	~120	~15%
Other rare senses (cheweth, dawn, climb, levy, recover, etc.)	~100	~12%

[Collapsed from 400+ distinct KJV phrasings in search_strongs.py --lookup H5927.]

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Judges	60	9.7
Jonah	4	8.3
Joel	6	8.2
1 Samuel	63	7.8
Amos	11	7.5
Joshua	49	7.4
2 Kings	51	7.1
Nahum	3	6.4
2 Chronicles	50	6.1
1 Kings	47	5.8
Exodus	59	4.9
Obadiah	1	4.8
Ezra	13	4.6
Jeremiah	63	4.6
2 Samuel	30	4.3
Hosea	7	3.6
Habakkuk	2	3.6
Nehemiah	13	3.2
Genesis	48	3.1
Deuteronomy	30	3.1
Ezekiel	38	3.0
Numbers	37	2.9
Isaiah	37	2.9
Micah	3	2.9
Haggai	1	2.6
Zechariah	5	2.4
1 Chronicles	22	2.3
Leviticus	13	1.5
Lamentations	2	1.3
Psalms	23	0.9
Ecclesiastes	2	0.9
Daniel	3	0.8
Proverbs	7	0.8
Job	8	0.7
Song of Songs	5	—
Ruth	1	—

Pattern: Highest density in the historical narratives (Judges, 1 Samuel, Joshua, 2 Kings) where military/pilgrimage movement dominates, and in the shorter prophets (Jonah, Joel, Amos, Nahum, Obadiah) where judgments "come up" against nations. Surprisingly low density in Leviticus despite the cultic "offer up" usage — because Leviticus prefers the nominal עֹלָה (H5930) with other verbs (קָרַב) for presenting the sacrifice.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Physical ascent — going up to higher ground¶

Gen 13:1 — "And Abram went up out of Egypt… into the south."
Jos 2:8 — "she came up unto them upon the roof"
Jdg 1:3 — "Come up with me into my lot"
Jon 2:6 — "hast thou brought up my life from corruption"

2. Pilgrimage — going up to Jerusalem, the sanctuary, or the mountain of the LORD¶

1Sa 1:3 — "this man went up out of his city yearly to worship"
1Sa 1:7 — "when she went up to the house of the LORD"
Isa 2:3 — "let us go up to the mountain of the LORD"
Mic 4:2 — "let us go up to the mountain of the LORD"
Zec 14:17 — "whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship"

3. Exodus deliverance — God bringing Israel up out of Egypt (formula)¶

Exo 3:8 — "to bring them up out of that land"
Jer 2:6 — "the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt"
Amo 2:10 — "I brought you up from the land of Egypt"
Mic 6:4 — "I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt"

4. Cultic offering — causing a sacrifice to go up on the altar (Hiphil)¶

Gen 8:20 — "offered burnt offerings on the altar"
Gen 22:2 — "offer him there for a burnt offering"
Lev 2:12 — "they shall not be burnt (ascend) on the altar"
2Ch 1:6 — "Solomon went up… and offered a thousand burnt offerings"

5. Military advance — an army "going up" against a city or land¶

Jos 6:5 — "the people shall ascend up every man straight before him" (Jericho)
Jdg 1:1 — "Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first?"
1Ki 14:25 — "Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem"
Jer 4:7 — "The lion is come up from his thicket"

6. Growth, vegetation, and weather — plants sprouting, mist rising, smoke ascending¶

Gen 2:6 — "there went up a mist from the earth"
Gen 41:5 — "seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk"
Pro 24:31 — "it was all grown over with thorns"
Isa 5:6 — "there shall come up briers and thorns"

7. Exaltation and prominence — rising in status, pride, or renown¶

Isa 14:14 — "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds"
Pro 31:29 — "thou excellest them all"
Eze 8:11 — "went up a thick cloud of incense" (figurative prominence)

8. Legal / mental ascent — something "coming up" before someone, or into the heart¶

Jon 1:2 — "their wickedness is come up before me"
Jer 3:16 — "neither shall it come to mind" (lit. "come up upon the heart")
2Ki 12:4 — "money that cometh into any man's mind (lit. cometh up on the heart)"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עַל (ʻal) — "upon, against"	H5921	251x (31%)	Directional particle — "go up upon / against" a place or enemy
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	240x (29%)	"Went up to the LORD" / "LORD brought up" — pilgrimage and Exodus formulas
אָמַר (ʼâmar) — "said"	H559	211x (26%)	Narrative frame: command/report of going up
כֹּל (kôl) — "all"	H3605	158x (19%)	"All Israel went up" — collective ascent
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrâʼêl)	H3478	156x (19%)	Subject of Exodus/pilgrimage ascent
אֶרֶץ (ʼerets) — "land"	H776	128x (16%)	"Came up out of the land of…"
מֶלֶךְ (melek) — "king"	H4428	126x (15%)	Kings going up against kings (military)
מִצְרַיִם (Mitsrayim) — "Egypt"	H4714	79x (10%)	Exodus bring-up formula
בַּיִת (bayith) — "house"	H1004	86x (11%)	"Went up to the house of the LORD"
עַם (ʻam) — "people"	H5971	85x (10%)	"The people came up"
בּוֹא (bôwʼ) — "come"	H935	95x (12%)	Paired motion verbs in narrative
פָּנִים (pânîym) — "face, before"	H6440	84x (10%)	"Went up before / came up before the LORD"

Word Family / Cognates¶

H5930 עֹלָה (ʻôlâh) — burnt offering; the thing that goes up (262 verses)
H5920 עַל (ʻal) — height, uppermost; the preposition/noun for "upper"
H5921 עַל (ʻal) — "upon, over, against" (preposition from same root)
H5929 עָלֶה (ʻâleh) — leaf (that which goes up on a tree)
H5942 עִלִּי (ʻillîy) — upper
H5945 עֶלְיוֹן (ʻelyôwn) — Most High (divine title from same root)
H4609 מַעֲלָה (maʻălâh) — a step, stair, ascent, degree

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H5927.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H5927.

Easily Confused Words (via shared KJV translation)¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV	Key Difference
רוּם (rûwm)	H7311	"rise up," "go up," "exalt"	Rûwm = stative "be high / exalt"; ʻâlâh = dynamic "move upward"
יָלַךְ (yâlak)	H3212	"went up"	Yâlak = generic "go, walk" (direction-neutral); ʻâlâh specifies upward
סְלִק (çᵉliq, Aramaic)	H5559	"came up"	Aramaic counterpart of ʻâlâh (Ezra, Daniel)
נָשָׂא (nâsâʼ)	H5375	"lift up"	Nâsâʼ = lift/carry (object); ʻâlâh = go up (self or cause to ascend)
קוּם (qûwm)	H6965	"arise, rise up"	Qûwm = stand up from rest; ʻâlâh = travel upward
גָּבַהּ (gâbahh)	H1361	"exalt, lifted up"	Gâbahh = be lofty (often proud); ʻâlâh = ascend

Easily Confused via LXX (Greek overlap)¶

Many Hebrew verbs of motion collapse into Greek ἀναβαίνω (G305) and ἀνάγω (G321), including ʻâlâh, rûwm, and çᵉliq.

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002002001012] Move — the core field for literal ascent, upward travel, and motion from lower to higher.
[002003002020] Sacrifice — reflects the Hiphil cultic use "offer up" on the altar.
[002001001057] Stance — overlaps with taking position, standing up, or assuming an elevated place.
[002002001017] Space — captures directional movement upon, against, or into a location.
[002002001008] Flow — fits the "rising" imagery of mist, smoke, and growth.
[002002002010] Time — covers extended uses where something "comes up" in sequence, stage, or occasion.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ἀναβαίνω (anabaínō)	G305	472	4.72	Primary — "go up, ascend"
ἀνάγω (anágō)	G321	81	4.61	Causative "lead up, bring up"
ἀναφέρω (anaphérō)	G399	80	4.10	"Take/bring up" — carries cultic "offer up" sense into NT (Heb 7:27, 1 Pet 2:24)
ἀναβιβάζω (anabibázō)	G307	28	4.42	Causative "cause to come up"
συναναβαίνω (synanabaínō)	G4872	8	4.82	"Come up with"
προσαναβαίνω (prosanabaínō)	G4320	7	4.82	"Ascend farther / be promoted"
ὁλοκαύτωμα (holokaútōma)	G3646	39	2.63	Noun rendering — "whole burnt offering" (via contextual Hiphil+ʻôlâh pairing)
Αἴγυπτος (Aígyptos)	G125	75	2.02	Co-mapping with "Egypt" in the Exodus formula
ἴαμα (íama) — healing	G2386	5	4.34	In passages where "bringing up" = healing/restoration
βωμός (bōmós) — altar	G1041	10	3.24	Co-maps in sacrificial contexts