אָלָה

From the study of Hosea 4:2

Range of meaning

To pronounce an oath that carries a conditional curse ('may God do so to me if…'), to put someone under oath, or to curse someone. The related noun ʾālāh (H423) means the oath-curse itself, including the sworn curses attached to the covenant (Deut 29:12, 14, 19–21).

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'swearing' and BSB/NIV have 'cursing'. To a modern ear both mean using bad words. NLT turns it into making vows and breaking them, which is closer to the oath idea.

How it drifted

In English, 'swearing' and 'cursing' slid from 'taking an oath' or 'calling down harm' to 'profanity'. That later sense is the one readers now hear first.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hosea himself uses the word in 10:4: 'they utter words, swearing empty oaths (ʾālôt šāwʾ) in making covenants'. Judges 17:2 uses it for a mother's curse on a thief. 1 Kings 8:31 uses it for the oath a suspect takes at the altar. In ancient Near Eastern treaties, curses spelled out what would happen if the oath was broken.

From the study of 1 Samuel 14:24

Range of meaning

The noun 'alah is an oath that carries a curse, a sworn statement with a penalty attached (Gen 24:41; Num 5:21). The causative verb, used here, means to put someone under such an oath (cf. 1 Kgs 8:31). Oaths of this kind were believed to bind automatically and to be enforced by God.

Against the English

KJV 'adjured' is accurate but archaic. 'Placed under an oath' (BSB) is clear but can lose the curse element. The oath does not only forbid eating. It calls down a curse on whoever eats.

Used elsewhere in the period

Compare the oath of the tribes in Judg 21:1–18 ('Cursed is anyone who gives a wife to Benjamin'), which also traps the community in its own words, and Jephthah's vow (Judg 11:30–40). Ancient Near Eastern treaties ended with similar self-curses on anyone who broke them.

From the study of Judges 17:2

Range of meaning

To pronounce an oath that carries a curse. It can mean (1) putting someone under oath, (2) binding oneself by oath, or (3) calling down a curse on a guilty party, often one not yet known. The related noun 'alah means an oath-curse, a sworn curse, or the curse clauses of a covenant (Deut 29:12, 19–20). It differs from qalal (to treat as worthless, revile) and 'arar (to bind with a curse) in its link to oath-taking.

Against the English

KJV 'cursedst' and BSB/WEB 'utter a curse' get the force right, but modern English 'curse' usually means foul language or an angry outburst. NASB 'uttered a curse in my hearing' is close. The supplied gloss 'to swear' captures the oath side but loses the threat.

How it drifted

English 'curse' and 'swear' have both shifted toward meaning profanity. In the biblical world an oath-curse was a solemn legal and religious act: it handed the case to God when human investigation could not find the culprit.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 5:1 talks of hearing 'the voice of an 'alah', a public call for witnesses: anyone who knew something and kept quiet carried guilt. Zech 5:3 calls the flying scroll 'the 'alah that goes out over the whole land', because 'everyone who steals' will be cut off. There the oath-curse is tied to theft, as in our verse. In Num 5:21–27 the suspected wife is put under an 'alah. Across the ancient Near East, curses on unknown thieves and violators were common, for example in the curse sections of boundary stones and treaties.