To swear
אָלָהStrong’s H0422alah (a-lah)
Appears in 6 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Alah is the Hebrew word usually translated “swear an oath”, “cursed” and “had put under oath”. It appears in 6 verses of the Old Testament.
“And he said unto his mother, 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.”
Meaning
- To swear, curse(Qal) · (Hiphil)
How it's translated
- he will swear an oath 2
- you cursed 1
- and he had put under oath 1
- to put under an oath him 1
- cursing 1
- they have sworn an oath 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Hosea 2
- Judges 1
- 1 Samuel 1
- 1 Kings 1
- 2 Chronicles 1
5 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- 1 Samuel 14:24And 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. So none of the people tasted any food.
- 1 Kings 8:31If 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:
- 2 Chronicles 6:22If 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;
- Hosea 4:2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
- Hosea 10:4They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
Hebrew dictionary
אָלָה alah · to swear
1) to swear, curse 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to swear, take an oath (before God) 1a2) to curse 1b) (Hiphil) 1b1) to put under oath, adjure 1b2) to put under a curse
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “swear” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
SWEAR, verb intransitive
preterit tense swore. [Eng. veer; Latin assevero.]
- To affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed.“Ye shall not swear by my name falsely” Leviticus 19:12“But I say unto you, swear not at all” Matthew 5:34
- To promise upon oath.“Jacob said, swear to me this day; and he swore to him” Genesis 25:33
- To give evidence an oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement.
- To be profane; to practice profaneness.
All definitions and other forms of “swear”
SWEAR, verb transitive
To utter or affirm with a solemn appeal to God for the truth of the declaration; as, to swear on oath. [This seems to have been the primitive use of swear; that is, to affirm.]
- To put to an oath; to cause to take an oath; as, to swear witnesses in court; to swear a jury; the witness has been sworn; the judges are sworn into office.
- To declare or charge upon oath; as, to swear treason against a man.
- To obtest by an oath.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.