What the Word Actually Means
The ascent verb that answers yarad: up out of the water, up out of Egypt, up out of the grave. The same root gives the olah, the offering that goes entirely up.
Alah is the coming-up verb, the answer to yarad, and Hebrew hangs its brightest promises on it. Israel comes up out of Egypt. The pilgrim goes up to Jerusalem. The offering that ascends whole to HaShem is the olah, the going-up, from this same root. And when HaShem speaks over the valley of dry bones, this is the verb He chooses: "I will cause you to come up out of your graves" (Ezekiel 37:12).
English has to split the word to survive it: "went up," "ascended," "offered," "brought up," and in the KJV and its heirs the offering vocabulary and the resurrection vocabulary and the exodus vocabulary stop speaking to each other. The pattern dissolves into synonyms.
Kept whole, the word tells you what rising is. "You brought up my nefesh from Sheol" (Psalms 30:3). "You brought up my life from the pit" (Jonah 2:6). The one who went down comes up other than he went down, and the coming up is HaShem's doing. Every immersion ends with alah. So does the third day.
What English Gives You
to go up, ascend, come up
The Original
עָלָה
Where to Find It
Ezekiel 37:12-13, Psalms 30:3, Jonah 2:6, Genesis 22:2
Source Language
Hebrew
The Root
עלה (a-l-h)
How to Say It
alah
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