To abuse
עָלַלStrong’s H5953alal (a-lal)
Appears in 18 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Alal is the Hebrew word usually translated “deal wantonly”, “glean” and “have dealt ruthlessly”. It appears in 18 verses of the Old Testament.
“And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.”
Meaning
- To act severely, deal with severely, make a fool of someone(Poel) to act severely · (Poal) to be severely dealt with · (Hithpael) to busy oneself, divert oneself, deal wantonly, deal ruthlessly, abuse (by thrusting through) · (Hithpoel) to practise practices, thrust forth (in wickedness)
- (Poel) to glean
- (Poel) to act or play the child
- (Poel) to insert, thrust, thrust in, thrust upon
How it's translated
- and they will deal wantonly 3
- you will glean 2
- i have dealt ruthlessly 1
- you have dealt wantonly 1
- and they abused 1
- and they gleaned him 1
- he dealt wantonly 1
- and i have inserted 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Lamentations 4
- Judges 2
- 1 Samuel 2
- Jeremiah 2
- Exodus 1
- Leviticus 1
12 books in all.
Related words
Explore in Scripture
- Leviticus 19:10And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
- Numbers 22:29And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.
- Deuteronomy 24:21When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
- Judges 19:25But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
- Judges 20:45And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.
- 1 Samuel 6:6Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
Hebrew dictionary
עָלַל alal · to abuse
1) to act severely, deal with severely, make a fool of someone 1a) (Poel) to act severely 1b) (Poal) to be severely dealt with 1c) (Hithpael) to busy oneself, divert oneself, deal wantonly, deal ruthlessly, abuse (by thrusting through) 1d) (Hithpoel) to practise practices, thrust forth (in wickedness)
עָלַל alal · to glean
(Poel) to glean
עָלַל alal · to mock
(Poel) to act or play the child
עָלַל alal · to thrust
(Poel) to insert, thrust, thrust in, thrust upon
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “abuse” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
ABU'SE, verb transitive
s as z. [Latin abutor, abusus of ab and utor, to use; Gr. to accustom. See Use.]
- To use ill; to maltreat; to misuse; to use with bad motives or to wrong purposes; as, to abuse rights or privileges.“They that use this world as not abusing it” 1 Corinthians 7:31
- To violate; to defile by improper sexual intercourse.
- To deceive; to impose on.
- To treat rudely, or with reproachful language; to revile.
All definitions and other forms of “abuse”
- To pervert the meaning of; to misapply; as to abuse words.
ABU'SE, noun
Ill use; improper treatment or employment; application to a wrong purpose; as an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of religious privileges; abuse of advantages, etc.
- A corrupt practice or custom, as the abuses of government.
- Rude speech; reproachful language addressed to a person; contumely; reviling words.
- Seduction.
- Perversion of meaning; improper use or application; as an abuse of words.
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.