ola · burnt offering

What it means

ola (עֹלָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “burnt offering”.

A sacrifice in which the animal is burned whole on the altar, as a total gift to God. The Hebrew word means "what goes up" (in smoke).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A sacrifice burned whole on the altar.
2. The steps by which one goes up, like those of the temple gate.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Burnt offering: the sacrifice in which the animal is burned whole on the altar. BDB notes that the word means “what goes up”, a step, and from there the sacrifice that goes up in smoke. It comes from עָלָה, “go up”.

• The burnt offerings of Noah and Abraham Genesis 8:20Genesis 22:2
• The law of the burnt offering Leviticus 1:3Leviticus 1:9
• A vow to offer something up as a burnt offering Judges 11:31
• Listening is worth more than burnt offerings 1 Samuel 15:22

Historical and cultural background

According to Leviticus 1:9, the priest burns the whole animal on the altar “as a burnt offering, a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to YHWH”.

How we translate it

“Burnt offering” 218 times, “burnt offerings” 69. This edition's glossary sets “burnt offering” with no deviations. הֶעֱלָה עֹלָה, “make a burnt offering go up”, is translated “offer up as a burnt offering”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• burnt offering ×218
• burnt offerings ×69
• were its ascent ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×7
• Exodus×17
• Leviticus×62
• Numbers×56
• Deuteronomy×6
• Joshua×6
• Judges×6
• 1 Samuel×10
• 2 Samuel×5
• 1 Kings×8
• 2 Kings×9
• 1 Chronicles×13
• 2 Chronicles×30
• Ezra×8
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×2
• Psalms×7
• Isaiah×5
• Jeremiah×7
• Ezekiel×20
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1
• Micah×1

• Genesis 8:20

  And Noah built an altar to YHWH, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

• Genesis 22:2

  He said, “Take, please, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you.”

• Genesis 22:3

  Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he rose and went to the place that Elohim had told him.

• Genesis 22:6

  Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And the two of them went together.

• Genesis 22:7

  Isaac said to Abraham his father, and he said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

• Genesis 22:8

  Abraham said, “Elohim will see for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

• Genesis 22:13

  Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and look, a ram behind him, caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.

• Exodus 10:25

  But Moses said, “You must also put into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may offer them to YHWH our Elohim.

• Exodus 18:12

  Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for Elohim; and Aaron came, with all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before Elohim.

• Exodus 20:24

  An altar of earth you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your flocks and your herds; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

• Exodus 24:5

  He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as sacrifices of peace to YHWH.

• Exodus 29:18

  You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to YHWH, a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to YHWH it is.

• Exodus 29:25

  Then you shall take them from their hands and offer them up in smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before YHWH; it is a fire offering to YHWH.

• Exodus 29:42

  It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before YHWH, where I will meet with you to speak to you there.

• Exodus 30:9

  You shall not offer on it strange incense, or burnt offering or grain offering, and a libation you shall not pour on it.

• Exodus 30:28

  the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand.

• Exodus 31:9

  and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand;

• Exodus 32:6

  And they rose early on the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

• Exodus 35:16

  the altar of burnt offering and its grating of bronze that belongs to it, its poles and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;

• Exodus 38:1

  And he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood; five cubits was its length, and five cubits its width, square, and three cubits its height.

• Exodus 40:6

  And you shall put the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the dwelling, the tent of meeting.

• Exodus 40:10

  And you shall anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.

• Exodus 40:29

  And the altar of burnt offering he put at the entrance of the dwelling, the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as YHWH had commanded Moses.

• Leviticus 1:3

  If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall present a male without defect; at the entrance of the tent of meeting he shall present it, for his acceptance before YHWH.

• Leviticus 1:4

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make expiation for him.

• Leviticus 1:6

  He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces.

• Leviticus 1:9

  Its entrails and its legs he shall wash in water, and the priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to YHWH.

• Leviticus 1:10

  And if his offering is from the flock, from the lambs or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall present a male without defect.

• Leviticus 1:13

  The entrails and the legs he shall wash in water, and the priest shall present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to YHWH.

• Leviticus 1:14

  And if his offering to YHWH is a burnt offering from the birds, he shall present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons.

• Leviticus 1:17

  He shall tear it open by its wings —he shall not divide it— and the priest shall offer up in smoke it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire; it is a burnt offering, a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to YHWH.

• Leviticus 3:5

  The sons of Aaron shall offer up in smoke it on the altar on top of the burnt offering that is on the wood that is on the fire, a fire offering, a pleasing aroma to YHWH.

• Leviticus 4:7

  The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before YHWH that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Leviticus 4:10

  just as it is taken off from the ox of the sacrifice of peace; and the priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering.

• Leviticus 4:18

  He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before YHWH that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Leviticus 4:24

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it in the place where one slaughters the burnt offering before YHWH; it is a sin offering.

• Leviticus 4:25

  The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering.

• Leviticus 4:29

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.

• Leviticus 4:30

  The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar.

• Leviticus 4:33

  He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where one slaughters the burnt offering.

And 248 more times.