Hebrew word · H5953

עָלַל

vehit'alelu-

to abuse

The verb means to act or deal with someone, often in the sense of acting wantonly, toying with or abusing them (Exod 10:2 God 'made sport' of Egypt; 1 Sam 31:4 Saul fears the Philistines will 'abuse' him). The noun means deeds or practices. The reflexive form here occurs nowhere else.

Appears 20 times in 18 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

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)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 141:4

Range of meaning

The verb means to act or deal with someone, often in the sense of acting wantonly, toying with or abusing them (Exod 10:2 God 'made sport' of Egypt; 1 Sam 31:4 Saul fears the Philistines will 'abuse' him). The noun means deeds or practices. It can be neutral or praiseworthy (God's deeds, Ps 9:11; 77:12), but people's 'alilot' are usually corrupt (Ps 14:1; Ezek 14:22-23; Zeph 3:7). The reflexive form here occurs nowhere else.

Against the English

KJV 'practise wicked works'; ESV 'busy myself with wicked deeds'; NASB/WEB 'practice deeds of wickedness'; YLT 'do habitually actions in wickedness'. ESV's 'busy myself' best catches the reflexive, engrossed sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

BDB lists the reflexive here as 'practise practices'; HALOT has 'to perform deeds'. The Septuagint translated it as 'to make excuses' (prophasizesthai prophaseis), apparently from a 'pretext, accusation' sense the noun also has (compare Deut 22:14, 'alilot devarim', trumped-up charges).

From the study of Lamentations 1:12

Range of meaning

The root ʿalal means to act severely or ruthlessly with someone, to deal with someone (often harshly), and also to glean: to go back over a vine and strip the last grapes (Lev 19:10; Jer 6:9, "they shall glean thoroughly the remnant of Israel as a vine"). The form here is passive: "it was done, dealt out".

Against the English

"Which is done unto me" (KJV) and "inflicted on me" (BSB) are accurate but neutral. They lose the sense of severity and the possible picture of being picked clean.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lamentations uses the root repeatedly for harsh dealing: 1:22 ("deal with them as you have dealt with me"), 2:20 ("to whom have you done this?"), 3:51. The Vulgate here renders it vindemiavit me, "he has stripped me like a grape harvest". That shows ancient readers heard the gleaning image in it.

From the study of Isaiah 3:12

Range of meaning

From the root ʿll. (1) The verb, in its intensive forms, means 'deal severely with, abuse' (Lamentations 1:22; 2:20), 'glean thoroughly, go over again' (Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 24:21; Jeremiah 6:9), and 'cut down stragglers' (Judges 20:45). Another form means 'make sport of, abuse' (Exodus 10:2; Judges 19:25). (2) The related nouns ʿôlēl/ʿôlāl mean 'child, infant' (Lamentations 2:11; 4:4), and taʿălûlîm means 'babes' or 'caprice, wanton treatment' (Isaiah 3:4; 66:4).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'children', ESV 'infants', BSB/NIV 'youths' and NLT 'childish leaders' all follow the 'child' sense. The Greek and Latin chose 'strip bare / plunder'. No single English word can carry both the 'child' sense and the 'abuse, glean bare' sense.

How it drifted

English 'children' suggests literal minors. The Hebrew allows 'childish, capricious' rulers, or rulers who strip the people bare like gleaners going over a vineyard twice.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 3:4 uses taʿălûlîm in parallel with 'boys' (nəʿārîm). Isaiah 66:4 uses the same noun for 'harsh treatments'. Ecclesiastes 10:16: 'Woe to you, O land, when your king is a boy.' The Septuagint has kalamōntai, 'glean the stubble'; the Vulgate has spoliaverunt, 'have plundered'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 10:2 הִתְעַלַּ֙לְתִּי֙ I have dealt ruthlessly

    and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.”

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 19:10 תְעוֹלֵ֔ל you will glean

    You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 22:29 הִתְעַלַּ֖לְתְּ you have dealt wantonly

    Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now!”

    Here: Feminine "you" (the donkey). The verb means to treat someone as a toy, to make sport of them or humiliate them by what you do to them. Balaam feels his honour has been trampled: she swerved into a field, crushed his foot against a wall, and lay down under him, all in front of his servants.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 24:21 תְעוֹלֵ֖ל you will glean

    When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 19:25 וַיִּֽתְעַלְּלוּ־ and they abused

    But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.

  2. Judges 20:45 וַיְעֹֽלְלֻ֙הוּ֙ and they gleaned him

    Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more.

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 6:6 הִתְעַלֵּ֣ל he dealt wantonly

    Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people out so they could go on their way?

  2. 1 Samuel 31:4 וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־ and they will deal wantonly

    Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

    Here: This form of the verb means to amuse oneself at someone else's expense: to toy with them, humiliate them, abuse them for sport. Saul fears being made a spectacle of.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 10:4 וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־ and they will deal wantonly

    Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

Job · 1

  1. Job 16:15 וְעֹלַ֖לְתִּי and I have inserted

    I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 141:4 לְהִתְע֘וֹלֵ֤ל to practice

    Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies.

    Here: A reflexive form found only here: 'to busy myself with doings', to get thoroughly involved. The root often carries a sense of acting wantonly or abusively toward someone.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 3:12 מְעוֹלֵ֔ל [is] acting like children

    Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.

    Here: A singular participle (a verb form used like an adjective) from a root that gives both 'child' (ʿôlēl) and 'deal harshly with, glean every last grape'. The traditional Hebrew reading takes it as 'is a child / behaves like a child', which links back to verse 4 ('infants will rule over them'). The ancient Greek took it as 'strips bare'. The sound probably calls up both ideas.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 6:9 עוֹלֵ֛ל יְעוֹלְל֥וּ thoroughly <glean>, people will glean

    This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.”

  2. Jeremiah 38:19 וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־ and they will deal wantonly

    But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may deliver me into their hands to abuse me.”

Lamentations · 5

  1. Lamentations 1:12 עוֹלַ֖ל it has been done

    Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?

    Here: A passive form: "was dealt out, was done harshly". The root is used for harsh, thorough treatment and is related to the word for gleaning a vine bare. It suggests being stripped completely.

  2. Lamentations 1:22 וְעוֹלֵ֣ל עוֹלַ֛לְתָּ and deal severely, you have dealt severely

    Let all their wickedness come before You, and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.

  3. Lamentations 2:20 עוֹלַ֣לְתָּ have you dealt severely

    Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

    Here: 'You have dealt so harshly with.' The verb is used for rough, abusive treatment, and it is related to going over a vineyard a second time to strip what is left. It sounds almost the same as olalei, 'infants', a few words later, so God's harsh dealing and the children are bound together by sound.

  4. Lamentations 3:51 עֽוֹלְלָ֣ה it has dealt severely

    My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

    Here: 'It has dealt harshly with / done violence to'. The form describes something done thoroughly and over and over. Elsewhere in Lamentations this verb describes what God has done to Zion (1:12, 1:22, 2:20). Here the speaker's own eye does that kind of harm to him.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.