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בְּסֵתֶר הַמַּדְרֵגָה (Shir HaShirim 2:14), in the covert of the steps, and וְנָפְלוּ הַמַּדְרֵגוֹת (Yechezkel 38:20), the steps will fall. He glosses neither; what he adds is that the Targum of וְלֹא־תַעֲלֶה בְמַעֲלֹת (Shemos 20:23), you shall not go up by steps, is וְלָא תִסַּק בְּדַרְגִּין, the same in Aramaic, with דַרְגִּין for steps.

One line, on וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה (Bereishis 28:12), and behold a ladder set on the ground. Of it he says only ידוע, it is known.

עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם (Tehillim 68:19), You went up on high; וְעָלָה הַגְּבוּל (Yehoshua 15:8), and the border goes up; וּבָשָׂר עָלָה (Yechezkel 37:8), and flesh came up over the sinews and the bones; כִּי עָלָה הַשָּׁחַר (Bereishis 32:27), for the dawn has come up, that is, the brightness of the day. מִֽלְמַֽעֲלֵה הֶחָֽרֶס (Shoftim 8:13) he reads as from the going up of the sun's brightness and its shining. Targum Yonasan has עַד לָא מֵעַל שִׁמְשָׁא, before the sun set, and in Yonasan's view the word means that the sun was still up, seen in the sky and not yet gone in under the earth. Radak reads מִטֶּרֶף בְּנִי עָלִיתָ (Bereishis 49:9), from the prey, my son, you went up, as: from the prey of the enemies you rose to a great height; or else as: when you went up from the prey you crouched and lay down like a lion, with none to make you afraid. He reads וַתַּעַל אֶחָד מִגֻּרֶיהָ כְּפִיר הָיָה (Yechezkel 19:3), she brought up one of her cubs, it became a young lion, as: she reared one of her cubs until it went up the steps of its days and was a young lion. The adjective is עֶלְיוֹן: אֶדַּמֶּה לְעֶלְיֽוֹן (Yeshayahu 14:14), I will be like the Most High, and הַבְּרֵכָה הָֽעֶלְיוֹנָה (Yeshayahu 7:3), the upper pool.

עֹלָה הוּא אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ (Vayikra 1:13), it is an olah, a fire offering of pleasing savour. The korban is called so because it went up whole, all of it, upon the mizbeach. שֹׂנֵא גָזֵל בְּעוֹלָה (Yeshayahu 61:8), hating robbery in an olah, he explains: if a man brings before Me an olah that was stolen, I hate it, as it says וַֽהֲבֵאתֶם גָּזוּל (Malachi 1:13), and you have brought what was stolen.

וְעָלָה שָׁמִיר וָשָׁיִת (Yeshayahu 5:6), and thorn and briar shall come up. וְעָֽלְתָה אַרְמְנֹתֶיהָ סִירִים (Yeshayahu 34:13) he explains: the ground where her palaces stood shall bring up thorns. Of עַל אַדְמַת עַמִּי קוֹץ שָׁמִיר תַּֽעֲלֶה (Yeshayahu 32:13) he says the verb looks as though it takes an object, and it does not; rather, so much thorn and briar will grow and come up there that it is as though the ground goes up in thorn and briar. Its עַל goes back to what is said above it (Yeshayahu 32:12), mourners over the pleasant field, over the fruitful vine, and over the ground of my people that brought up thorn and briar. Bringing up: אַֽעֲלֶה אֲכַסֶּה־אֶרֶץ (Yirmiyahu 46:8), I will bring up, I will cover the land, where he explains אַֽעֲלֶה as I will bring up my armies. הֹֽעֲלָתָה (Nachum 2:8), she was brought up, he explains as brought up onto the chariot to be led away into captivity; his father writes that the word is of the sense of being cut off, taken up in the next part.

יְצוּעִי עָלָֽה (Bereishis 49:4), from the day you profaned it my couch was cut off; שֻׁדַּד מוֹאָב וְעָרֶיהָ עָלָה (Yirmiyahu 48:15), Moav is plundered and her cities cut off; וַתַּעַל שִׁכְבַת הַטָּל (Shemos 16:14), and the layer of dew ceased; אַֽל־ תַּֽעֲלֵנִי בַּֽחֲצִי יָמָי (Tehillim 102:25), do not cut me off in the midst of my days; and וְאָֽנֹכִי אַֽעַלְךָ גַם־עָלֹה (Bereishis 46:4), and I will also surely cut you off: all of these, he says, are the sense of cutting off and ceasing. Some read וְעָֽלְתָה יָדוֹ עַל־יַד רֵעֵֽהוּ (Zecharyah 14:13) in this sense, his hand shall be cut off and cease against his fellow's hand, and so Targum Yonasan renders וְתִתְּלַשׁ יְדֵיהּ, and his hand shall be torn away. On that reading, when a man takes hold of his fellow's hand his own hand will be cut off, as it says הָמֵק בְּשָׂרוֹ (Zecharyah 14:12), his flesh shall rot away. Some read וְהַבַּיִת הַזֶּה יִֽהְיֶה עֶלְיוֹן (Melachim I 9:8), and this house shall be high, as cutting off and ruin too; Radak holds there is no need to take it out of the first sense, and reads it: this house, which is now high, when they sin, every passer by will be appalled and hiss.

Radak adds that וְאָֽנֹכִי אַֽעַלְךָ גַם־עָלֹה may be read as going up in earnest, whether as a hint at burial in the land of Canaan or as a hint that the sons would go up from Mitzrayim. יְצוּעִי עָלָֽה may be read so too, with עָלָה then joined to פחז כמים, a surge like water: that surge, like water, went up and prevailed over you. Like it is הִנֵּה־מַיִם עֹלִים (Yirmiyahu 47:2), behold, waters going up, that is, growing strong; and so וַתַּֽעֲלֶה הַמִּלְחָמָה (Melachim I 22:35), and the battle went up, that is, it went on growing stronger. Something like this sense is what Chazal said (Berachos 31a), מקצר ועולה, which Radak explains as going on and completing his tefillah with all his strength.

וַיָּסַר אֶל־ הָֽעֲלִיָּה (Melachim II 4:11), and he turned in to the upper room, and עֲלִיַּת ־קִיר (Melachim II 4:10), a walled upper room, are from the sense of going up: the upper room is so called because it is over the house and a man goes up to it. So too וְלֹא־תַֽעֲלֶה בְמַֽעֲלֹת (Shemos 20:23), and you shall not go up by steps, steps being so called because a man goes up on them. צֵל הַֽמַּֽעֲלוֹת (Yeshayahu 38:8), the shadow of the steps, Targum Yonasan renders טוּל אֶבֶן שְׁעַיָא, the shadow of the stone of hours, which is what the Mishnah (Keilim 12:4) calls אבן השעות, the stone of hours. That is a stone marked so as to know the hours of the day.

וּמַֽעֲלוֹת רֽוּֽחֲכֶם (Yechezkel 11:5) he explains as the thoughts that come up on your spirit. דֶּרֶךְ מַֽעֲלֵה בֵֽית־חוֹרֹן (Yehoshua 10:10), the way of the ascent of Beis Choron, is a noun of this root too; and בְּֽמַֽעֲלֵה קִבְרֵי בְנֵֽי־דָוִיד (Divrei HaYamim II 32:33), in the ascent of the graves of the sons of David, he explains as with the good among the kings.

וַיַּֽעֲלוּ אֹתָם עֵמֶק עָכֽוֹר (Yehoshua 7:24), and they brought them up to the valley of Achor: the going up is not said with regard to the valley, for then it would have said וַיּוֹרִידוּ, and they brought down. It seems rather that between Yericho and the valley of Achor there was a mountain or a hill, and going up is said with regard to it, since the way from Yericho was an ascent although they were going to the valley. So too וְיָרַדְתִּי עַל־הֶֽהָרִים (Shoftim 11:37), and I will go down upon the mountains: since the Mitzpah stood high above the mountains, going down is said, although going upon the mountains is an ascent. And so וַיֵּרֶד הַסֶּלַע (Shmuel I 23:25), and he went down to the rock.

Another sense is the תְּעָלָה: וְאֶת־הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר־ בַּתְּעָלָה לִחֵֽכָה (Melachim I 18:38), and it licked up the water that was in the channel; וַֽאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֶת־הַבְּרֵכָה וְאֶת־ הַתְּעָלָה (Melachim II 20:20), and that he made the pool and the channel; אֶל־קְצֵה תְּעָלַת הַבְּרֵכָה (Yeshayahu 7:3), to the end of the channel of the pool; and in the plural, וְאֶת־ תְּעָֽלֹתֶיהָ שִׁלְחָה (Yechezkel 31:4), and it sent out its channels. It is the אמת המים, the watercourse.

Another sense, which he says is close to the first: תְּעָלָה אֵין לָֽךְ (Yirmiyahu 46:11), you have no healing; הִֽנְנִי מַֽעֲלֶה ־לָּהּ אֲרֻכָה (Yirmiyahu 33:6), behold, I bring up healing for it; and מַדּוּעַ לֹא עָֽלְתָה אֲרֻכַת בַּת־עַמִּֽי (Yirmiyahu 8:22), why has the healing of the daughter of my people not come up.

From the first sense too is the עֱלִי: בְּתוֹךְ הָֽרִיפוֹת בַּֽעֱלִי (Mishlei 27:22), among the groats with a pestle. It is the pestle of the mortar, called in the language of Chazal בוכנא (Beitzah 14a), and it is named so because it is lifted when they pound with it. Chazal said (Beitzah 1:5), אין נוטלין את העלי לקצב עליו בשר, one may not take up the pestle to chop meat on it, and Radak explains that they meant the large pestle with which the groats are pounded, and the like, things whose work is heavy; therefore it is not fit to be moved on Yom Tov. Some take וְהַֽעֲלוֹת וְכַפּוֹת (Divrei HaYamim II 24:14), and the עלות and the spoons, from this; in Radak's view it is a small vessel with which wine is drawn, like עלת נקפת בכד in the words of Chazal (Eruvin 53b), an עלת striking against a jug. Chazal also said (Bava Basra 133b) בתליסר עילתא דדינרי, with thirteen עילתא of dinars, and it is explained as a small vessel with which wine is drawn.

עַל is a word of this root, from the first sense, and much used: עֲלֵֽי ־עָשׂוֹר וַֽעֲלֵי ־נָבֶל (Tehillim 92:4), upon the asor and upon the nevel, and without the yud of the plural, עַל ־פְּנֵי הַמָּֽיִם (Bereishis 1:2), upon the face of the waters. It comes in the sense of with: וַיָּבֹאוּ הָֽאֲנָשִׁים עַל ־הַנָּשִׁים (Shemos 35:22), the men came with the women. In the sense of beside: וְזָֽבַחְתָּ עָלָיו אֶת־עֹֽלֹתֶיךָ (Shemos 20:21), and you shall slaughter your olos beside it, since the slaughtering was not done on the mizbeach, and חֹנִים עַל ־הַיָּם (Shemos 14:9), encamped beside the sea. It stands for אל, to: וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶלְקָנָה הָֽרָמָתָה עַל ־בֵּיתוֹ (Shmuel I 2:11), and Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house. And it stands for the prefixed beis: הִמָּלֵט עַל ־נַפְשֶׁךָ (Bereishis 19:17) is like בנפשך, escape with your life. יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (Hoshea 7:16) is short a word, and he reads it: they return not for any need and not for any matter. Some take עָל there as an adjective, since it has a kamatz, like וּנְאֻם הַגֶּבֶר הֻקַם עָל (Shmuel II 23:1), and the word of the man who was raised on high, that is, most high; and וְאֶל־ עַל יִקְרָאֻהוּ (Hoshea 11:7), and they call him to the one on high, is taken as the adjective too, though it has a patach. אֶת־הַשּׁוֹק וְהֶֽעָלֶיהָ (Shmuel I 9:24), the shank and what was upon it, Radak explains as the thigh, which is above the shank, and so Yonasan renders וְיַרְכֵיהּ, and its thigh.

וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה ־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ (Bereishis 8:11), and behold, a plucked olive leaf in her mouth, and וַֽיִּתְפְּרוּ עֲלֵה תְאֵנָה (Bereishis 3:7), and they sewed fig leaves, are the leaf, a word well known. Of וְהָבִיאוּ עֲלֵי ־זַיִת (Nechemiah 8:15), and bring olive leaves, he says the branches together with the leaves are meant. His father read הִצִּית אֵשׁ עָלֶיהָ (Yirmiyahu 11:16) as kindling fire on its leaves, and Dunash read פֶּן יִפְקֹד עָלֶיהָ (Yeshayahu 27:3) from this: lest even the leaf be lacking, still less the fruit.