H5930a H5930a
Whole burnt offering — an animal sacrifice entirely consumed by fire on the altar as worship ascending to God
The olah is the quintessential ascending sacrifice of the Hebrew cultus — an animal wholly consumed on the altar, its smoke rising to God as an expression of total dedication. From Noah's first altar after the flood (Gen 8:20) through the elaborate Levitical regulations (Lev 1:3–17) and Solomon's temple dedications (1 Kgs 3:4), this offering appears nearly 290 times. The name itself, from the root 'to go up,' captures the theology of ascent: the entire victim rises heavenward. French 'holocauste' and Spanish 'holocausto' preserve the Greek holokauston ('wholly burned'), while German 'Brandopfer' ('fire-offering') emphasizes the consuming flame.
1. burnt offering (sacrifice) — A whole animal sacrifice consumed entirely by fire on the altar, expressing worship, atonement, or consecration to God. With 286 occurrences this is the overwhelmingly dominant sense, spanning patriarchal altars (Gen 22:2–3, Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac), Mosaic legislation (Lev 1:3–17, the detailed protocols), daily and festival offerings (Num 28–29), and royal dedications (1 Kgs 8:64). The cross-lingual consensus is striking: Spanish 'holocausto,' French 'holocauste,' and German 'Brandopfer' all denote the complete burning. The theological heart is total surrender — unlike peace offerings where worshippers eat a portion, the olah belongs entirely to God. 286×
AR["مُحرَقَةٌ","مُحْرَقَةً","مُحْرَقَةٌ"]·ben["দহনবলি","হোম-বলি","হোমবলি"]·DE["Brand-Opfergabe","Brandopfer","ein-Brand-Opfergabe"]·EN["a-burnt-offering","burnt-offering"]·FR["brûlé-offrande","holocauste","un-brûlé-offrande","un-holocauste"]·heb["עולה"]·HI["पर-वह","होम-बलि","होमबलि","होमबलि के लिए"]·ID["korban-bakaran","korban-bakaran.","korban-bakaran;"]·IT["bruciato-offerta","olocausto","un-olocausto-offerta"]·jav["kurban-gesang","kurban-geseng","kurban-obaran","kurban-obongan"]·KO["번제","번제-가","번제-라","번제-로","번제-를","번제니라","번제로","번제와"]·PT["'olah","holocausto"]·RU["всесожжение","всесожжением"]·ES["holocausto"]·SW["sadaka-ya-kuteketezwa"]·TR["yakmalık-sunu","yakılan-sunu","yakımalık-sunu"]·urd["سوختنی","سوختنی-قربانی"]
Exod 18:12, Exod 29:18, Lev 1:3, Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13, Lev 1:14, Lev 1:17, Lev 5:10, Lev 8:21, Lev 14:22, Lev 14:31, Lev 15:15 (+38 more)
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. sense 2 — A single anomalous occurrence at Isaiah 61:8 where multilingual renderings diverge sharply: English 'with injustice,' Spanish 'con injusticia,' yet French still reads 'holocauste' and German 'Brandopfer.' This likely reflects a textual or parsing ambiguity — the Hebrew be'awlah ('with wrongdoing,' from the root 'wl) is graphically near be'olah ('with a burnt offering'). Most modern scholarship treats this as a homographic overlap rather than a true sense of olah, but the clustering algorithm correctly flags it as distinct evidence. 1×
AR["بِ-الظُّلْمِ"]·ben["অন্যায়ে"]·DE["Brandopfer"]·EN["with-injustice"]·FR["holocauste"]·heb["ב-עוולה"]·HI["अधर्म-में"]·ID["dengan-korban-bakaran"]·IT["olocausto"]·jav["ing-kurban-obong"]·KO["에-불의로"]·PT["em-holocausto"]·RU["с-неправдой"]·ES["con-injusticia"]·SW["katika-sadaka-ya-kuteketezwa"]·TR["haksizlukta"]·urd["بدکاری-میں"]
Related Senses
H3548 1. priest, cultic officiant (750×)G5547 1. Christ, Messiah, Anointed One (540×)H5030 1. Prophet, divine spokesperson (317×)H3881 1. Levites (priestly class) (283×)G4396 1. prophet, spokesperson of God (146×)H6944 1. sanctuary, holy place (129×)G0749 1. high priest, chief priest (123×)H6944 2. holiness, sacredness (abstract quality) (123×)H2076 1. Qal: offer sacrifice (cultic) (116×)G5330 1. Pharisee (99×)G0040 1. the Holy One, Holy Spirit (98×)H2931 1. ritually or morally unclean (88×)G4336 1. pray to God (86×)H6944 3. holy things, sacred offerings (plural) (86×)H3722a 1. make ritual atonement (Piel) (85×)H6912 1. bury (Qal active) (82×)H6419 1. pray (Hitpael) (80×)H6944 4. holiness (with possessive pronoun) (77×)H6942 1. sanctify, consecrate (Piel factitive) (76×)H2930a 1. Qal: be/become unclean (75×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
II. עֹלָה286 n.f. whole burnt-offering (that which goes up (√ 6) to heaven (al. on altar));—ע׳ Gn 22:3 + 141 times; עוֹלָה Nu 28:37 + 33 times; cstr. עֹלַת Ex 29:42 + 27 times, עוֹלַת Nu 28:24 + 2 times; sf. עוֹלָֽתְךָ ψ 20:4, etc.; pl. עֹלוֹת Jos 8:31 + 42 times, עֹלֹת Gn 8:20 + 3 times; עוֹלֹת Dt 27:6, עוֹלוֹת Am 5:22 +; sf. עֹלוֹתֵיכֶם Je 6:20 +, etc.;—the whole burnt-offering (beast or fowl)…