מַ֫עַל
above
‘above’ is one of 4 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adverb
- A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb.
Every verse where H4605 appears in the Book of 1 Kings — 8 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
1 Kings
- 1 Kings 7:3 מִ/מַּ֨עַל֙ prep + adv It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars; fifteen in a row.
- 1 Kings 7:11 וּ/מִ/לְ/מַ֗עְלָ/ה conj + prep + Preposition + adv + sfx dem Above were costly stones, even hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar-wood.
- 1 Kings 7:20 מִ/מַּ֨עַל֙ prep + adv There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about on the other capital.
- 1 Kings 7:25 מִ/לְ/מָ֑עְלָ/ה prep + prep + adv + sfx dem It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.
- 1 Kings 7:29 מִ/מָּ֑עַל prep + adv and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
- 1 Kings 7:31 וָ/מַ֨עְלָ/ה֙ conj + adv + sfx dem The mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit: and the mouth of it was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on the mouth of it were engravings, and their panels were foursquare, not round.
- 1 Kings 8:7 מִ/לְ/מָֽעְלָ/ה prep + prep + adv + sfx dem For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the poles of it above.
- 1 Kings 8:23 מִ/מַּ֔עַל prep + adv and he said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;
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.
מעל — transliterated maʻal — is a Hebrew word carrying the sense “above.” Where the King James Version says “upward,” newer translations reach for “or older” (Berean Standard Bible); the renderings breakdown has the detail. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 134 verses — common. More than a quarter of its appearances fall in Numbers. The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4605 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 →
- 134
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 134 distinct verses.
- 23 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 23 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #323
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 323 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 134 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Numbers 37 verses 28%
- Exodus 13 verses 10%
- 2 Chronicles 11 verses 8%
By section of the Old Testament
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 134 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 59 verses · 44%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 43 verses · 32%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 32 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 3 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†: Upward 56×, Above 37×, High 6×
- American Standard Version†: Upward 52×, Above 35×, High 3×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Or older 30×, Above 23×, Or more 8×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Upward 50×, Above 45×, Upwards 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4605 across 136† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 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 2 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H4605 across 135† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 24 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 H4605 across 112† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 24 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 28 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H4605 across 138† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 18 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
10 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
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 10 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.
מעל I Ezr 9
- 1. ag. man: נשׁאר מעל Jb 21:34 faithlessness remains (cf. Nu 5:12, 27 Pr 16:10 under מָעַל). e.g. Job 21:34
- 2. elsewhere ag. God, c. בְּ, Jos 22:22 (P); without בְּ, 1 Ch 9:1 2 Ch 29:19; 33:19 Ezr 9:2, 4; 10:6.—מַעַל elsewhere only c. מָעַל q.v. (1; all cited). e.g. Joshua 22:22
מעל II subst., higher part, only in adv. and prep. phrases
- 1. מִמַּ֫עַל = above (v. מִן 1 c):
- a. as adv. Am 2:9 וָאָשְׁמִיד פִּרְיוֹ מִמַּעַל his fruit above (opp. שָׁרָשָׁיו מִתָּ֑חַת), Jb 18:16; 1 K 7:3, 20, 29; often in the phr. הַשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל Dt 4:39; 5:8 (= Ex 20:4), Jos 2:11; 1 K 8:23; Is 45:8; Je 4:28; cf. שְׁחַקִים מ׳ ψ 78:23; Pr 8:28, אֱלוֹהַּ מ׳ Jb 3:4; 31:2, אֵל מ׳ 31:28. e.g. Amos 2:9
- b. מִמַּעַל לְ, as prep. (מן 1 c), on the top of, above, Gn 22:9 ממעל לָעֵצִים above the wood, Ex 28:27 = 39:20, Lv 11:21 כְּרָעַיִם מִמַּעַל לְרַגְלָיו, Is 6:2 שְׂרָפִים עֹמדים מִמַּעַל לוֹ, 14:13; Je 43:10; Ez 1:26; Dn 12:6, 7; = on higher ground than, Je 35:4; fig. Je 52:32 (‖ 2 K 25:28 מֵעַל). e.g. Genesis 22:9
- 2. With ה—ָloc. מַ֫עְלָה, מָ֑עְלָה, upwards (opp. מַ֫טָּה p. 641):
- a. fig. Dt 28:43 יַעֲלֶה עָלֶיךָ מַ֫עְלָה מָ֑עְלָה upwards, upwards, i.e. higher and higher (opp. מַ֫טָּה מָֽטָּה). e.g. Deuteronomy 28:43
- b. וָמַ֫עְלָה (a) of direction in space, Ju 1:36 מֵהַסֶּלַע וָמַ֫עְלָה from the rock and upwards (cf. Bu), 1 K 7:31 (corrupt: v. Sta VB Benz), 1 S 9:2 = 10:23 מִשִּׁכְמוֹ וָמַ֫עְלָה from his shoulder and upwards: so וּלְמ׳, †Ez 1:27 מִמַּרְאֵה מָתְנָיו וּלְמָ֑עְלָה, 8:2; 43:15. (b) of direction in time, or age:—(α) מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמָ֑עְלָה Ex 30:14; Nu 1:3 + 19 times P, מִבֶּן חֹדֶשׁ וָמ׳ Nu 3:15, 22 + 6 times P, simil. 4:3; 8:24 + 7 times P; elsewhere only 1 Ch 23:3, 24; Ezr 3:8, and with וּלְמַעְלָה †1 Ch 23:17; 2 Ch 31:16, 17; לְמִבֶּן … וָמ׳ †2 Ch 25:5; and 2 K 3:21 מִכֹּל חֹגֵר חֲגֹרָה וָמ׳. †(β) מהיום ההוא וָמ׳ from that day and onwards, 1 S 16:13; 30:25. †(γ) מן היום הזה וָמ׳ from this day and upwards (i.e. and back), Hg 2:15, 18.* e.g. Judges 1:36
- c. לְמַ֫עְלָה upwards, more common than מ׳ alone (a): (α) Ex 25:20 (= 37:9) פֹּֽרְשֵׂי כְנָפַיִם למ׳, Ju 7:13 ויהפכהו למ׳ overthrew it upwards, i.e. turned it downside up, Is 7:11 אוֹ הַגְבֵּהַּ למ׳ or make it (the request) high upwards, 8:21 וּפָנָה למ׳, 37:31 (2 K 19:30) זעשׂה פרי למ׳ (cf. Am 2:9, 1 a), Ez 41:7 a β (v a α bis למ׳ למ׳ = higher and higher), ψ 74:5; fig. וְהָיִיתָ רַק למ׳ Dt 28:13 (cf. a), Pr 15:24 אֹרַח חַיִּים למ׳ (opp. שְׁאוֹל מָֽטָּה׃), cf. Ec 3:21; sq. a noun, Ezr 9:6 למ׳ רּאשׁ over the head, sq. מֵעַל (cf. Aboth 2:1 לְמַעְלָה מִן) = on high above, 2 Ch 34:4: v. ba, ba. (b) metaph. = exceedingly, only in Chr, 1 Ch 14:2; 22:5 the house must be built to J. לְהַגְדְּיל למ׳ so as to shew greatness exceedingly, 23:17 וּבְנֵי ר׳ רָבוּ למ׳, 29:3 (sq. מִן; = over and above …), v 25 2 Ch 1:1 וַיְגַדְּלֵהוּ למ׳, 20:19; עַד לְמַ֫עְלָה, 16:12; 17:12; 26:8. e.g. Exodus 25:20
- d. מִלְמַ֫עְלָה (v. מִן 9 a), adv., above (the more usual prose syn. of מִמַּעַל): Gn 6:16 אֶל־אַמָּה תְּכַלֶּנָּה מ׳, 7:20 15 cubits מ׳ (i.e. above the mountain-tops), Ex 25:21 (40:20) וְנָתַתָּ֫ה אֶת־הַכַּפֹּרֶת על הארון מ׳ upon the ark above, 26:14 (36:19; 40:19; Nu 4:25) a covering of skins on the tent מ׳ above, 39:31; Nu 4:6; 1 K 7:11; 7:25; 8:7 (2 Ch 4:4; 5:8), Je 31:37 אִם יִמַּדּוּ שָׁמַיִם מ׳ (cf. 1 a), Ez 1:11 פְּרֻדוֹת מ׳ separate above, v 22, 26; 10:19; 11:22; 37:3; from above, Jos 3:13, 16 הַמַּיִם הַיֹּרְדִים מ׳. e.g. Genesis 6:16
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. n.m. Ezr 9:2 unfaithful, treacherous act (NH מְעִילָה);—מ׳ Lv 5:15 + 16 times; מָ֑עַל Nu 5:12 + 2 times; sf. מַעֲלוֹ Ez 17:20 + 4 times; מַעֲלָם Ez 39:26 + 3 times;—
III. subst., higher part, only in adv. and prep. phrases; above, upwards (Ph. מעל, v. sub מַ֫טָּה p. 641: abbrev. from מַעֲלֶה; cf. מַ֫עַן in לְמַ֫עַן from עָנָה: Köii 116):—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from עלה (ʻâlâh) (H5927) — to go up.
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.
מֵעַל
- (adopted fr. Deut. XXV, 9) [from on,] upper of the shoe. Yeb. 102ᵃ התודה אמרה מ׳ ולא מ׳ דמ׳ the text says ‘from on’ (his foot) but not the cover of a cover, i.e. the upper must be immediate to the skin of the foot, v. אַפַּנְתָּא. Ib. א"כ ליכתוב רחמנא במ׳ רגלו if it were so (that חלץ, Deut. l. c. meant ‘to fasten’), the text ought to have read ‘on the upper part of his foot’. e.g. Deuteronomy 25:9
מַעַל
- circumvention; fraud, adulteration, faithlessness. Yalk. Ex. 343, v. דֶּלֶם. Num. R. s. 7, v. next w.
מָעַל
- denom. of preced.) to circumvent, defraud. Sifré Num. 7 (ref. to Num. V, 12) ומָעֲלָה בו מ׳ על דבר ערוה וכ׳ does ‘she was faithless to him’ refer to marital betrayal or to money matters?; v. מְעִילָה.—Esp. to make inappropriate use of sacred property, to be guilty of transgressing, be amenable to, the law concerning מְעִילָה (Lev. V, 15, sq.). Meïl. I, 1 מוֹעֲלִים בהן in using them inadvertently one commits m’ʿilah (i.e. they retain their sacred character in spite of a mistake made at their slaughtering). Ib. אין מוֹעֲלִין בה it has no longer a sacred character. Ib. III, 2 לא נהנין ולא מועלין בהן you must not make use of them, but if you did, you are not amenable to &c.; a. v. fr.—[Yalk. Num. 765 מועל ומשקר, read מְעַוֵּל, v. עָוַל.] e.g. Numbers 5:12
מְעַל
- Meïl. 14ᵇ דקמָעֵיל בקודשא that he makes improper use of sacred property; ib. דקא מועיל בקדשים (corr. acc.).
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 39 distinct written forms H4605 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וָ/מַ֔עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Exodus 38:26 | 27 |
| וָ/מָ֑עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Exodus 30:14 | 13 |
| מִ/לְ/מָ֑עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Exodus 25:21 | 10 |
| מִ/לְ/מָֽעְלָ/ה | Adverb | Exodus 26:14 | 9 |
| לְ/מָֽעְלָ/ה | Adverb | 1 Chronicles 23:17 | 8 |
| מִ/מַּ֔עַל | Adverb | Amos 2:9 | 7 |
| מִ/מָּ֑עַל | Adverb | 1 Kings 7:29 | 6 |
| וָ/מַ֖עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Numbers 1:18 | 4 |
| לְ/מָ֑עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Ecclesiastes 3:21 | 4 |
| וָ/מָֽעְלָ/ה | Adverb | 1 Chronicles 23:24 | 3 |
| וּ/לְ/מַ֔עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Ezekiel 8:2 | 3 |
| לְ/מַ֔עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Deuteronomy 28:13 | 3 |
| לְ/מַ֜עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Ezekiel 41:7 | 3 |
| מִ/לְ/מַ֔עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Genesis 6:16 | 3 |
| מִ/מַּ֨עַל֙ | Adverb | 1 Kings 7:3 | 3 |
| וָ/מַ֗עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Numbers 4:23 | 2 |
| וָ/מַ֨עְלָ/ה֙ | Adverb | 1 Kings 7:31 | 2 |
| וּ/לְ/מָ֑עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Ezekiel 1:27 | 2 |
| לְ/מַ֖עְלָ/ה | Adverb | 2 Chronicles 16:12 | 2 |
| לְ/מַ֗עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Exodus 25:20 | 2 |
| לְ/מַ֣עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Ezra 9:6 | 2 |
| לְ/מַ֨עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Ezekiel 41:7 | 2 |
| מִ/מַּ֕עַל | Adverb | Exodus 28:27 | 2 |
| מִ/מַּ֖עַל | Adverb | Daniel 12:6 | 2 |
| מִ/מַּ֗עַל | Adverb | Jeremiah 35:4 | 2 |
| וּ/לְ/מָֽעְלָ/ה | Adverb | 1 Chronicles 23:27 | 1 |
| וּ/מִ/לְ/מַ֗עְלָ/ה | Adverb | 1 Kings 7:11 | 1 |
| וּ/מִ/מַּ֗עַל | Adverb | Ezekiel 1:26 | 1 |
| וּ֝/מִ/מַּ֗עַל | Adverb | Job 18:16 | 1 |
| לְ/מַ֥עְלָ/ה | Adverb | 2 Chronicles 34:4 | 1 |
| לְ/מַ֨עְלָ/ה֙ | Adverb | 1 Chronicles 14:2 | 1 |
| מִ/לְ/מַ֜עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Joshua 3:16 | 1 |
| מִ/מַּ֛עַל | Adverb | Jeremiah 43:10 | 1 |
| מִ/מַּ֣עַל | Adverb | Leviticus 11:21 | 1 |
| מִ/מַּ֥עַל | Adverb | Isaiah 14:13 | 1 |
| מִ/מַּעַל֮ | Adverb | Daniel 12:7 | 1 |
| מִ/מָּֽעַל | Adverb | Job 31:28 | 1 |
| מַ֣עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Deuteronomy 28:43 | 1 |
| מָּ֑עְלָ/ה | Adverb | Deuteronomy 28:43 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4605, 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
- מעל môʻal H4607 lifting
- מעלה maʻăleh H4608 ascent
- על ʻal H5920 above
- עלה ʻâleh H5929 leaf
- עלה ʻôlâh H5930 burnt offering
- עלה ʻillâh H5931 matter
- עלי ʻĕlîy H5940 pestle
- עלי ʻillîy H5942 upper
- עליה ʻălîyâh H5944 roof chamber
- עלית ʻallîyth H5952 roof chamber
- תעלה tᵉʻâlâh H8585 conduit
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 17 — not the complete family. 4 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 131 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 134 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
- Genesis 6:16
- Exodus 20:4
- Leviticus 11:21
- Numbers 1:3
- Deuteronomy 4:39
- Joshua 2:11
- Judges 1:36
- 1 Samuel 9:2
- 1 Kings 7:3
- 2 Kings 3:21
- 1 Chronicles 14:2
- 2 Chronicles 1:1
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.
