עַל

From the study of Hosea 11:7

Range of meaning

A rare noun 'height, what is above', used as an adverb to mean 'on high, upward'. It is different from the very common preposition ʿal, 'upon'. A few scholars argue it can work as a divine title, 'the High One', comparing Ugaritic ʿly and 2 Samuel 23:1 ('the man raised on high', ʿal).

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and ESV say 'the Most High', and NIV 'God Most High'. That sounds like the well-known title ʿElyon, which is a different word not used here. NASB's 'the One on high' and YLT's 'the Most High' make a similar choice. Readings such as 'upward' or 'summoned upward' stay closer to the bare Hebrew.

How it drifted

Translators had to make sense of a two-letter word in a hard line, and the familiar title 'Most High' was the nearest smooth equivalent. The English then reads as more certain than the Hebrew is.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hosea 7:16: 'they turn, not upward [loʾ ʿal]', a close parallel in the same book, describing a return that never rises to God. 2 Samuel 23:1 (huqam ʿal, 'raised on high'). The Vulgate reads the same consonants as ʿōl, 'yoke'. The Septuagint has neither word.

From the study of Psalm 50:4

Range of meaning

Literally 'from upon / from above'. It works as an adverb ('above, from on high'), often next to 'heavens' to mean the sky overhead (Genesis 27:39; 49:25; Deuteronomy 4:39 'in heaven above and on the earth beneath').

Against the English

KJV's 'call to the heavens from above' can be read as God calling down from above. BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB read 'the heavens above', so the word describes the heavens.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint has 'the heaven above' (ton ouranon anō). The Latin Vulgate has 'caelum desursum'. Both make it describe the heavens.

From the study of Hosea 7:16

Range of meaning

A rare noun meaning 'height, what is above.' It is related to the common preposition 'al ('on, over') and the verb 'alah ('go up'). It is used adverbially ('on high') and possibly as a title for God, 'the High One' (cf. 2 Samuel 23:1, 'the man raised on high'; Hosea 11:7).

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and YLT capitalize it as 'the Most High,' a title. ESV and NASB keep it adverbial: 'not upward.' RSV emended the text to 'Baal.' The title 'Most High' in English usually translates a different Hebrew word, 'Elyon. Here the Hebrew is the much rarer and shorter 'al.

How it drifted

English 'Most High' makes the phrase sound like a settled, well-known divine name. It is really a single short word whose sense is reconstructed from very few parallels.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hosea 11:7 offers the closest parallel: 'to 'al they call him, but he does not raise them up.' Some scholars compare a possible Ugaritic divine epithet built on the same root ('ly, 'Exalted'), but that link is debated. The ancient versions struggled: the Greek reads 'to nothing,' the Latin reads 'ol, 'yoke' ('to be without a yoke').