אָלָה ʼâlâh — properly, to adjure, i.e. (usually in a bad sense) imprecate
Translated in the KJV as adjure, curse, swear.
a primitive root; properly, to adjure, i.e. (usually in a bad sense) imprecate.
ʼâlâh in each stem
Qal (Pa'al)
Infinitive absolute 2Perfect (qatal) 1
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.
By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
Hiph'il
Wayyiqtol 1Infinitive construct 1
And 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.
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:
What the stems mean
A Hebrew verb is its root letters set into a pattern. The pattern — the binyan — is the grammar's way of saying three things at once: whether the action is simple, intensive or causative, and whether its subject is active, passive or reflexive. That is why one Hebrew word can need six English ones. All seven binyanim, explained ›