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אֵ֫לֶּה

these

‘these’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H428 Strong's Hebrew
ʼêl-leh Transliteration
/ale'-leh/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 747 appearances

Compare with another word →

About this entry

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

“these” is the headline sense of the Hebrew word אלה (ʼêl-leh). First canonically at Genesis 2:4, it enters the text early. It appears 697 verses across 32 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its most common vocabulary. Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. Related forms include אל, אל and אלה. See the sense tree, 697-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
an- other; one sort
Modern gloss
these
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H428 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

697
distinct verses
The word appears in 697 distinct verses.
32 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 32 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 2:4
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 2:4.
Zechariah 13:6
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 13:6.
#68
by frequency
Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 68 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 697 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 246 · 35%
  • Historical 266 · 38%
  • Wisdom 22 · 3%
  • Prophets 163 · 23%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 697 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 283 verses · 41%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 246 verses · 35%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 168 verses · 24%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 4 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.

  • King James Version: Other 2×, Were 2×
  • American Standard Version: These 4×, Others 2×, Things 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: These 445×, Things 34×, This 27×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: These 523×, Are 62×, Were 57×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H428 across 20 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Other” 2×
  • “Were” 2×

Plus 16 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H428 across 19 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “These” 4×
  • “Others” 2×
  • “Things” 2×

Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H428 across 690 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “These” 445×
  • “Things” 34×
  • “This” 27×
  • “Are these” 15×
  • “They” 14×
  • “The” 12×
  • “Now these” 11×
  • “Others” 9×
  • “All these” 6×
  • “Such” 6×
  • “Them” 5×
  • “Those” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 60 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 54 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H428 across 830 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “These” 523×
  • “Are” 62×
  • “Were” 57×
  • “Those” 55×
  • “Things” 42×
  • “Now these” 12×
  • “Are these” 11×
  • “Like these” 5×
  • “Than these” 4×
  • “Them” 4×
  • “Now these are” 3×
  • “Ones” 3×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 30 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


13 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB

Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 13 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

אלה I

  • a. Gn 2:4 & often: in appos. to a subst. with a pron. suff. (always without the art.) Ex 9:14 (read with Hi. אֵלֶּה בְּךָ for אֶל־לִבֵּךָ) 10:1 אֹתֹתַי אֵלֶּה these my signs, 11:8 Dt 11:18 1 K 8:59; 10:8; 22:23 2 K 1:13 Je 31:21 Ezr 2:65 Ne 6:14; in the genit. 2 K 6:20 Is 47:9 Dt 18:12 ψ 15:5; and after כל Gn 14:3 + often Standing alone in a neuter sense, these things (rare in best prose, & not very common in poetry), with עָשָׂה Dt 18:12; 22:5; 25:16 2 S 23:17, 22 ψ 15:5 +; with other vbs. Ezr 9:1 Is 44:21; 47:7 Je 13:22 Ho 14:10 ψ 42:5; 50:21; 107:43 Jb 8:2; with אֶת־ Nu 15:13 Is 48:14; with כָּל־ Ju 13:23 Is 66:2 +; v. also some of the cases with preps. sub d. אלה may point indifferently to what follows, Gn 6:9; 10:1; 25:7, 12, 13 ψ 42:5; or to what has preceded, Gn 9:19; 10:20, 31, 32; 25:4 Lv 21:14; 22:22 ψ 15:5; = such as these (τοιαῦτα), ψ 73:12 Jb 18:21. e.g. Genesis 2:4
  • b. repeated, אלה … ואלה, these … those Dt 27:12, 13 Jos 8:22 Is 49:12 (3 times) ψ 20:8 +. e.g. Deuteronomy 27:12
  • c. with art. (only after a subst. determined by art. (except Gn 21:29 Jos 17:9 עָרִים הָאֵלֶּה read הֶעָרִים, cf. 17:12; 19:8, 16, 31, 48, etc. Ez 42:9)) הָאֵלֶּה Gn 15:1 +. e.g. Genesis 21:29
  • d. with preps.: בְּאֵלָּה Lv 25:54; 26:23 1 K 22:11 (7 times), בָּאֵלֶּה †1 S 16:10; 17:39; לְאֵלֶּה Lv 11:24 (4 times), לָאֵלֶּה 1 K 22:17 (5 times); מֵאֵלֶּה Gn 9:19 (16 times); עַד אֵלֶּה Lv 26:18; עַל־אֵלָּה on account of these things Is 57:6; 64:11 Je 5:9 al.; כְּאֵלֶּה †Jb 16:2 Je 10:16 = 51:19, כָּאֵלֶּה †Gn 27:46 Lv 10:19 (things like these, so Is 66:8 Je 18:13) Nu 28:24 P (cf. Ez 45:25) 2 K 25:17 = Je 52:22, כְּמוֹ־אֵלֶּה †Jb 12:3. e.g. Leviticus 25:54

אלה II swear, curse (cf. I. אלה? so Thes LagOr ii. 3)

Qal

  • Pf. 1 K 8:31 (= 2 Ch 6:22 all Vrss Th Bö Bä Kp reading וְאָלָה); אָלִית Ju 17:2; Inf. abs. אָלֹה Ho 4:2; אָלוֹת Ho 10:4. e.g. 1 Kings 8:31
  • 1. swear, take oath before God 1 K 8:31 (= 2 Ch 6:22); in covenants Ho 4:2; 10:4 (falsely). e.g. 1 Kings 8:31
  • 2. curse Ju 17:2. e.g. Judges 17:2

Hiphil

  • Impf. וַיֹּ֫אֶ֗ל 1 S 14:24; Inf. לְהַאֲלֹתוֹ 1 K 8:31 = 2 Ch 6:22 adjure, put under oath. e.g. 1 Samuel 14:24

אלה III oath Gn 26

  • 1. oath in testimony Lv 5:1 Nu 5:21(×2) (P) Pr 29:24; בא באלה come into an oath Ne 10:30; הביא באלה bring into an oath Ez 17:13; נשׂא אלה 1 K 8:31 (= 2 Ch 6:22). e.g. Leviticus 5:1
  • 2. oath of covenant Gn 24:41(×2); 26:28 (J) Dt 29:11, 13; בזה אלה despise an oath Ez 16:59; 17:16, 18, 19. e.g. Genesis 24:41
  • 3. curse (a) from God Nu 5:23 (P) Dt 29:18, 19, 20; 30:7 2 Ch 34:24 Is 24:6 Je 23:10 Dn 9:11 Zc 5:3; (b) from men Jb 31:30 ψ 10:7; 59:13. e.g. Numbers 5:23
  • 4. execration in the phrase היה לאלה become an execration Nu 5:27 (P) Je 29:18; 42:18; 44:12. e.g. Numbers 5:27

אלה IV wail (Aramaic אֲלָא, ܐܶܠܴܐ ) only

Qal

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

I. (أُولَى, እሉ: እላ: Rabb. אֵלּוּ, Aramaic אִלֵּין, & compd. with ܗܳܐ and ܐܰܝ in ܗܳܠܶܝܢ, ܐܰܝܠܶܝܢ ) pr.pl.m. & f. these, in usage the pl. of זֶה.

I. vb. swear, curse (cf. I. אלה? so Thes LagOr ii. 3)—

II. n.f. oath Gn 26:28 +; sf. אָלָתִי, אָלָתוֹ Gn 24:41 + (4 times); pl. אָלוֹת Dt 29:20 + (4 times)

III. vb. wail (Aramaic אֲלָא, ܐܶܠܴܐ ) only

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from אל (ʼêl) (H411) — these.

TWOT: 92


Jastrow Dictionary

A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.

אָלָה

  • to curse, v. אלי.

אָלָה ²

  • imprecation, curse. Sot. II, 5 (17ᵃ); a. fr.—Pl. אָלוֹת. Ib. a. e.

אֵלֶּה

  • c. pl. (b. h.; v. preced.) these, those (cmp. הרי). Ex. R. s. 30 v’elleh (and this) adds to the preceding (continues), elleh (these) restricts. V. אֵלּוּ.

אֵלָה

  • v. preced. ws.) terebinth. Shebi. VII, 5.

אלה

  • Sabb. 90ᵃ Ar., v. אֵילָא 3.

אַלָּה

  • Josh. XXIV, 26; v. אַלָּתָא) [pointed, prominent] e.g. Joshua 24:26
  • 1. lance, fork. Kel. XVI, 8 חפוי הא׳, v. חִפּוּי. Pes. 57ᵃ אוי לי מֵאַלָּתָן woe to me (I am afraid) of their fork (weapon). Sabb. VI, 3 (63ᵃ) ed. (Ms. אלא); Y. ibid. 8ᵇ (expl. דייקרן).
  • 2. sign-pole, used in the barn as a mark. Ib.; Y. Maasr. I, 49ᵃ bot.; Tosef. Ter. III, 11 משתיעקר הא׳ (ed. Zuck. משיתעשר, corr. acc.) as soon as the sign-pole (fork) is removed (indicating that the grain is ready for use and priestly gifts).

אֱלָהּ

  • (= h. אֱלוֹהַּ) God. Dan. III, 28; a. fr.—Targ. O. Deut. XXXIII, 26; a. fr.—Lev. R. s. 5, end את אלה רב Ar. (ed. אלוה). Y. B. Mets. II, 8ᶜ אלההון דיהודאי the God of the Jews. Y. Snh. X, 28ᵇ.—Pl. (also plur. majest.) אֱלָהִין. Dan. II, 11; a. e.—אֱלָהַיָּא. Jer. X, 11. Targ. Ps. CXXXVI, 2 אלהי אלהיא the God of gods. [Gen. R. s. 26 כומריא גנבו א׳ וכ׳ (read אלהון) when priests rob—who would swear by their god?] Ib. (ref. to Gen. VI, 2).—Lev. R. s. 33 תמן קריין … אֱלָהַיָּיא there (in Rome) they call their kings gods. e.g. Daniel 3:28

אלי I

  • to curse. Sifré Num. 18 (ref. to Num. XVIII, 21) לאלה שיהו אָלִין בה וכ׳ ‘as a curse’ means that people shall curse by her (pointing to her), ‘may happen unto thee what happened to …’. e.g. Numbers 18:21

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.


Forms in the corpus

The 78 distinct written forms H428 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form Parsing Example Uses
הָ/אֵ֔לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Amos 6:2 68
אֵ֖לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ecclesiastes 7:28 58
אֵ֣לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 1:1 57
הָ/אֵ֑לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 10:15 50
הָ/אֵ֖לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 7:17 50
הָ/אֵֽלֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 16:12 41
אֵ֥לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 5:3 28
אֵ֑לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 18:12 26
אֵ֚לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 12:2 25
אֵ֛לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ecclesiastes 11:9 24
וְ/אֵ֨לֶּה֙ Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 11:41 22
הָ/אֵ֗לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 6:6 21
אֵֽלֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 11:4 18
הָ/אֵ֨לֶּה֙ Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 1:17 18
וְ/אֵ֣לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ezra 2:1 15
אֵ֔לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 10:21 14
וְ/אֵ֖לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 22:17 14
וְ/אֵ֛לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 27:13 14
אֵ֤לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Exodus 32:4 13
אֵ֨לֶּה֙ Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 25:3 13
וְ/אֵ֗לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Exodus 1:1 13
וְ/אֵ֥לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Daniel 12:2 12
אֵ֗לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Exodus 6:25 11
אֵ֕לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ezra 10:44 10
וְ/אֵ֨לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Exodus 6:16 9
הָ/אֵ֜לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Esther 9:31 7
אֵ֜לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 3:5 6
הָ/אֵ֛לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 31:3 6
אֵ֠לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 12:1 4
מֵ/אֵ֖לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ezekiel 16:5 4
מֵ/אֵֽלֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ezekiel 8:15 4
אֵ֧לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Genesis 36:19 3
אֵ֭לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Job 18:21 3
אֵלֶּה֩ Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 29:1 3
הָ/אֵ֤לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Esther 9:26 3
הָ/אֵלֶּה֮ Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ezekiel 14:16 3
וְ/אֵ֤לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Chronicles 3:1 3
לָ/אֵ֔לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Kings 22:17 3
אֵ֨לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Exodus 11:8 2
בְּ/אֵ֛לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Kings 22:11 2
הָ/אֵ֡לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Deuteronomy 5:22 2
הָ֠/אֵלֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Esther 9:28 2
וְ/כָ/אֵ֛לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 2 Kings 25:17 2
וְ֠/אֵלֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Genesis 36:40 2
וּ/מֵ/אֵ֖לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Genesis 9:19 2
כְ/אֵ֜לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Jeremiah 10:16 2
כָּ/אֵ֑לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Jeremiah 18:13 2
מֵ/אֵ֑לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Ecclesiastes 7:10 2
מֵ/אֵ֗לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Chronicles 2:53 2
אֵ֣לֶּ֣ה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Genesis 36:13 1
אֵ֦לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Kings 20:29 1
בְ/אֵ֥לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Jeremiah 9:24 1
בְּ/אֵ֑לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Leviticus 25:54 1
בְּ/אֵ֔לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Leviticus 26:23 1
בְּ/אֵ֨לֶּה֙ Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Chronicles 7:29 1
בָּ/אֵ֖לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Samuel 17:39 1
בָּ/אֵֽלֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Samuel 16:10 1
ה/אהל Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural 1 Kings 7:45 1
הָ/אֵ֔לֶה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Zechariah 4:11 1
הָ/אֵ֧לֶּה Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural Joshua 4:7 1

The 60 most common forms are shown; 18 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.


Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H428, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derives from

Shares the same root

Derived from this word

Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 661 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 697 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

Read these verses in the Septuagint

This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.

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