Alah אָלָה

Alah (Hebrew אָלָה, Strong's H423) is a Hebrew feminine noun meaning “oath”. It occurs 35 times in 32 verses of the Old Testament.

Definition

From the STEPBible Brief Lexicon of Hebrew (based on the abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs), STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.

Translated as

Verses

Every verse with Alah, with the English words that translate it highlighted (KJV or BSB; other translations show the KJV here).

Genesis

• Genesis 24:41
  Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’
• Genesis 26:28
  And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;“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

Leviticus

• Leviticus 5:1
  And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.“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.

Numbers

• Numbers 5:21
  Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;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 5:23
  And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
• Numbers 5:27
  And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.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.

Deuteronomy

• Deuteronomy 29:12
  That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day: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 29:14
  Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,
• Deuteronomy 29:19
  And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: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 29:20
  The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.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 29:21
  And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: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 30:7
  And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.Then the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your enemies who hate you and persecute you.

1 Kings

• 1 Kings 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: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

• 2 Chronicles 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;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 34:24
  Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: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,

Nehemiah

• Nehemiah 10:29
  They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;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.

Job

• Job 31:30
  Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

Psalms

• Psalm 10:7
  His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
• Psalm 59:12
  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.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.

Proverbs

• Proverbs 29:24
  Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.A partner to a thief hates his own soul; he receives the oath, but does not testify.

Isaiah

• Isaiah 24:6
  Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.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.

Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 23:10
  For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.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 29:18
  And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: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 42:18
  For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.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 44:12
  And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.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.

Ezekiel

• Ezekiel 16:59
  For thus saith the Lord God; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.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 17:13
  And hath taken of the king’s seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land: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 17:16
  As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.‘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 17:18
  Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.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 17:19
  Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.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.

Daniel

• Daniel 9:11
  Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.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.

Zechariah

• Zechariah 5:3
  Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.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.

Notes

1. Definition and verse list from STEPBible's tagged Hebrew Old Testament (TAHOT) and Greek New Testament (TAGNT) and Brief Lexicons, STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.
2. English renderings from the public-domain KJV with Strong's numbers (eBible.org) and the Berean Standard Bible interlinear (public domain).