Midvash

מַעַלmaʻal

higher part, above, upwards, only in adverb and preposition phrases

Pronunciation: mah'al · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H4605

Meanings

1. מִמַּ֫עַל = above (see מִן 1.c.)

a. above, as adverb (Amos 2:9; Job 18:16; 1 Kings 7:3)

b. on the top of, above, as preposition (Genesis 22:9; Exodus 28:27; Exodus 39:20)

2. upwards, With ָ ה locative מַ֫עְלָה, מָ֑עְלָה

a. upwards, upwards, higher and higher (Deuteronomy 28:43)

b. of direction in space, of direction in time, or age (Judges 1:36; 1 Kings 7:31; 1 Samuel 9:2)

c. לְמַ֫עְלָךְ upwards, more common than ׳ מ alone (a) (Exodus 25:20; Exodus 37:9; Judges 7:13)

d. מִלְמַ֫עְלָה (see מִן 9.a.), adverb, above (the more usual prose synonym of מִמַּעַל) (Genesis 6:16; Genesis 7:20; Exodus 25:21)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 140 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 6:16 Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper.
  • Genesis 7:20 rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.
  • Genesis 22:9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
  • Exodus 20:4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.
  • Exodus 25:20 The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover. With their wings spread above it, they will protect it.
  • Exodus 25:21 Place inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the Ark.
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).