הוֹי
alas
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Particle
- A short function word — article, negation, interrogative, the sign of the direct object, and the like.
Every verse where H1945 appears in the Book of Zephaniah — 2 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Zephaniah
- Zephaniah 2:5 ה֗וֹי ptcl intj Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Yahweh is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant.
- Zephaniah 3:1 ה֥וֹי ptcl intj Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
הוי — transliterated hôwy — is a Hebrew word carrying the sense “alas.” Debuting at 1 Kings 13:30, it then recurs through the corpus. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 47 verses — moderately common. More than a third of its appearances fall in Isaiah. See the sense tree, 47-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1945 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 47
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 47 distinct verses.
- 10 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 10 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #723
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 723 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 47 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 47 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 47 verses · 100%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Woe 36×, Ho 4×, Ah 2×
- American Standard Version: Woe 32×, Ho 5×, Ah 4×
- Berean Standard Bible: Woe 35×, Alas 8×, Get up 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Woe 24×, Woe to 20×, And 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1945 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1945 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1945 across 51 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1945 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 1 sense BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- ah!, alas!, ha!, ho!, O!, woe!
Word origin
interj. (onomatop.; cf. ܗܳܘܳܝ = הוֹ הוֹ Am 5:16 𝔖, = הֵידָד Je 51:14 𝔖; also Mod. Aramaic ú hú, ú hú (in a lament), SoUrmia-Dial. 102.4)—expressing usually dissatisfaction and pain, Ah, Alas, Ha (not distinctly Woe! which is אוֹי): used in lamentations, 1 K 13:30 and they mourned over him (saying) הוֹי אָחִי Ah, my brother! Je 22:18 הוֹי אָחִי וְהוֹי אָחוֹת … הוֹי אָדוֹן וְהוֹי הֹדֹה, 34:5 וְהוֹי אָדוֹן יִסְפְּדוּ לָ֑ךְ (cf. הוֹ־הוֹ Am 5:16): hence Is 1:4 הוֹי גּוֹי חֹטֵא Ah! sinful nation, v 24 Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries; especially preparatory to a declaration of judgment, Is 10:5 הוֹי אַשּׁוּר שֵׁבֶט אַפִּי, 17:12; 28:1, often sq. a ptcp. Ah! those that …, 5:8, 11, 18; 29:15; 31:1; 45:9, 10 Je 22:13 Am 5:18; 6:1 Hb 2:6, 9, 12, 15, 19; Zc 11:17 + (more sympathetic than אוֹי לְ): sq. כִּי Je 30:7, אֶל 48:1, עַל 50:27; Ez 13:3, לְ 13:18. Sometimes hardly more than an exclam. arousing attention Ha! (though perh. with a touch of sympathy or pity) Is 18:1; 55:1 Zc 2:10(×2), 11 Je 47:6.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from הו (hôw) (H1930) — alas.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
הֲוֵי
- , fut. יֶהֱוֵי, יְהֵא, יְהֵי ch.
- 1. same. Targ. Gen. I, 3; a. v. fr.—Koh. R. to IX, 10 הוא הוה גלי he emigrated, v. גְּלֵי. Ib. לא הֲוִינָא גלי did I not emigrate?—Ib. ויהוי מה דהוי (read דיהוי) and come what may. Ber. 3ᵃ (in Hebr. diction) ג׳ משמרות הוי נכ׳ the night consists of three watches. Ib.ᵇ תרי נשפי הוו there are two נשף (twilights); a. v. fr.—Y. Maasr. IV, end, 51ᶜ תְּווּן מפקדין וכ׳ (= תֶּהֱווּן, or read: הֱווּן) give orders to your wives &c., דיהוון מרימין וכ׳ that they (the laborers) should &c.—B. Bath. 73ᵇ, a. fr. הוה אזלינן it happened that we &c.—Kidd. 31ᵇ מרבינתיה הואי (= הֲוָאִית) she was his foster-mother. Ned. 50ᵃ אי הואי לי (Rashi הוי) if I become wealthy. Y. Shek. V, 49ᵇ top אית הוה סבין וכ׳ (Bab. ed. איתהוה, איתחוון, corr. acc.) there used to be old men &c.; Y. Peah VIII, 21ᵇ אית הוו.—Imper. הֱוֵי, v. preced. Ib. זיל הוי בי רב go and stay at college; a. fr.—In Palest. dialect יֵא, יֵיא = יְהֵא. Y. Taan. IV, 68ᶜ top ייא שלמא וכ׳ peace be with the hand &c.; a. fr.—V. יֵבָא, יֵיאבָךְ.
- 2. to dwell upon, discuss, v. infra.
- , הַוֵּא
- 1. to produce. Y. Taan. III, 66ᵈ bot. דהַוִּית וכ׳ (not דהיות) where the ground used to produce &c.; Midr. Till. to Ps. CXXVI דהַוָּה; v. זַוְויֵי.
- 2. (also Peel) with ב or על to dwell upon, to discuss, argue, oppose, cmp. קים. Y. R. Hash. I, 57ᵃ top על דב"ה אינון הַוִּוי they were discussing the question on the basis of Beth-Hillel’s opinion (differing as to the application of B. H.’s principle). Keth. 72ᵇ הוי בה ר׳ פפא R. P. (when that subject was up) raised the question.—Usu. והוינן בה, וה׳ עלה on its being brought up at college we raised the point. Ber. 45ᵇ. Gitt. 4ᵇ; a. fr.—Naz. 16ᵇ וכולה כדה׳ בהאליבא וכ׳ and all this must be understood, in accordance with what we have discussed (ib. 5ᵃ sq.), in the sense of &c.—Kidd. 50ᵇ, a. fr. מאי הַוֵּי עלה what have they decided upon it?, what is the result?—[Nidd. 66ᵃ תהוו … נתהוו, v. תְּהָא.]
הוֹי
- (b. h.) woe!, ah! Ex. R. s. 24, beg. (ref. to Deut. XXXII, 6) כלומר ה׳ (ה)ליי׳ וכ׳ as if saying, Woe, unto &c.—Y. Snh. X, 29ᵇ bot., v. וָהּ; a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 32:6
הוי
- (b. h.) to exist; to be, become; to occur, come to pass.—With part. ה׳ מביט he looked; ה׳ אומר he said, freq. used to say. Gen. R. s. 1, beg. אני הָיִיתִי וכ׳ I was the implement &c. Ib. ה׳ הקב"ה מביט וכ׳ the Lord looked into the Law (as often as a thing was to be created). Ab. I, 13 הוא ה׳ אומר the same used to say. Gen. R. s. 2 ה׳ ללמה ולא כלום became a nothing; a. v. fr.—Apocopate forms: אֱהִי, אֱהֵא, תְּהִי, תְּהֵא, יְהִי, יְהֵא; תְּהוּ (= תִּהְיוּ), יְהוּ (= יִהְיוּ). Yoma 66ᵇ אהא בשלום אני נכ׳ (Tosef. ib. IV (III), 14 נִהְיֶה) may I and you be as well; Y. ib. VI, 43ᶜ bot. כן תהו וכ׳ so may ye be well. B. Mets. 35ᵃ תהא במאמינו let this be (speak of a case) when he accepts his opponent’s statement; a. v. fr.—Part. הוֶֹה, הוֶֹוה
- 1. frequent, usual. Sabb. VI, 6 דברו חכמים בה׳ the scholars (in using the words ‘Arabian women’) speak of the ordinary custom (not to the exclusion of other people); a. fr.
- 2. existing, enduring. Pesik. R. s. 11, end הם הווִֹים ודומים [להקב"ה] they shall be existing for themselves (not merely as an attachment) and resembling [the Lord]; ib. אף הם הווים אש וכ׳ they, too, shall endure as a consuming fire.—Cant. R. to II, 13 עניות ירבה ויוקר הווה (read תרבה) poverty shall increase, and prices remain high (different in Snh. 97ᵃ a. Sot. 49ᵇ, v. אָמַר II). Imper. הֱוֵי, הֱוֵא; pl. הֱווּ. Ab. I, 4. Ib. II, 3; a. fr.—הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר, also elliptically הֱוֵי say, i.e. you must admit, this proves, that is meant by saying. Taan. 2ᵃ which is the service of the heart? ה׳ אומר זו תפלה you must admit, it is prayer. Tosef. Nidd. I, 6 ה׳ לא אמרום וכ׳ that is to say, the scholars have spoken &c. Cant. R. to I, 6 ה׳ כרמי שלי וכ׳ this is meant by ‘my vineyard &c.’—Y. Shebu. VII, 38ᶜ top הווי לא צורכה וכ׳ it is evident that it would not have been necessary &c.; a. fr.
- (v. הְוָיָה
- 1. to change one’s legal status, to dispose of. Keth. 40ᵇ (ref. to תהיה Deut. XXII, 19) במְהַוָּה עצמה וכ׳ the text speaks of a woman who can dispose of herself. e.g. Deuteronomy 22:19
- 2. to produce, make. Kidd. 58ᵃ (ref. to והיית, Deut. VII, 26) כל שאתה מְהַיֶּיה הימנה whatever thou makest out of it; Tem. 30ᵇ מְהַיֶּה ממנה; a. e. e.g. Deuteronomy 7:26
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 12 distinct written forms H1945 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| ה֣וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Habakkuk 2:19 | 11 |
| ה֗וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Habakkuk 2:9 | 9 |
| ה֥וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Amos 5:18 | 9 |
| ה֚וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Amos 6:1 | 5 |
| ה֛וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Habakkuk 2:12 | 5 |
| ה֖וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Ezekiel 13:3 | 3 |
| ה֤וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Ezekiel 34:2 | 3 |
| וְ/ה֥וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Jeremiah 22:18 | 2 |
| ה֕וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Isaiah 5:22 | 1 |
| ה֧וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Micah 2:1 | 1 |
| הוֹי֩ | Particle, Interjection | Ezekiel 13:18 | 1 |
| וְ/ה֣וֹי | Particle, Interjection | Jeremiah 22:18 | 1 |
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 46 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 47 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- 1 Kings 13:30
- Isaiah 1:4
- Jeremiah 22:13
- Ezekiel 13:3
- Amos 5:18
- Micah 2:1
- Nahum 3:1
- Habakkuk 2:6
- Zephaniah 2:5
- Zechariah 2:6
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
