עַל

Most High

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Strong’s H5920Noun, masculine4 times in the Hebrew Bible

Where it occurs

Hosea2

2 Samuel1

Psalms1

Translated as

height2

above1

a height1

In the text

2 Samuel 23:1עָל
These are the last words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised on high, the one anointed by the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:
Psalm 50:4מֵעָל
He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:
Hosea 7:16עָל
They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

Brown-Driver-Briggs

עַל, עָ֑ל

I. subst. height

II. As prep. upon, and hence on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against

1. Upon, of the substratum upon which an object in any way rests, or on which an action is performed

a. —

(a). of clothing, etc., which any one wears

(b). With verbs of covering or protecting, even though the cover or veil be not over or above the thing covered, but around or before it

b. Of what rests heavily upon a person, or is a burden to him

c. Of a duty, payment, care, etc., imposed upon a person, or devolving on him

d. על is used idiom. to give pathos to the expression of an emotion, by emphasizing the person who is its subject, and who, as it were, feels it acting upon him

e. חָיָה עַל to live upon (as upon a foundation or support)

f. Of the ground or basis, on which a thing is done

2. It expresses excess

3. It denotes elevation or pre-eminence

4. It expresses addition

5. It expresses the idea of being extended, or suspended over anything, without however being in contact with it,

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Sources: Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906, public domain) from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0), glosses from STEPBible TBESH (CC BY 4.0); STEPBible TAHOT (Hebrew Bible, Leningrad Codex, CC BY 4.0); the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Reformatted by Word Study, wording unchanged. All sources and licenses.