לֹא
not
‘not’ is one of 6 main senses fuller range ↓
H3808
Strong's Hebrew
lôʼ
Transliteration
/lo/
Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible
5,191
appearances
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
BDB Definition
not, no
- not (with verb - absolute prohibition)
- not (with modifier - negation)
- nothing (substantive)
- without (with particle)
- before (of time)
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.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Grammatical forms
- Particle, Negative 5,188 times (100%)
- Noun, Proper 2 times (0%)
- Preposition 1 time (0%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 5,191 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Page 1 of 20 — showing verses 1–200 of 3,966 distinct verses where H3808 appears, across 39 books. 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.
Genesis 190 verses
- Genesis 2:5 לֹ֨א ptcl neg No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,
- Genesis 2:17 לֹ֥א ptcl neg but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die."
- Genesis 2:18 לֹא ptcl neg Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
- Genesis 2:20 לֹֽא ptcl neg The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him.
- Genesis 2:25 וְ/לֹ֖א conj + ptcl neg They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
- Genesis 3:1 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Yes, has God said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"
- Genesis 3:3 לֹ֤א וְ/לֹ֥א ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
- Genesis 3:4 לֹֽא ptcl neg The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,
- Genesis 3:17 לֹ֥א ptcl neg To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Genesis 4:5 לֹ֣א ptcl neg but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.
- Genesis 4:7 הֲ/ל֤וֹא לֹ֣א ptcl inter + ptcl neg ptcl neg If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it."
- Genesis 4:9 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" He said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?"
- Genesis 4:12 לֹֽא ptcl neg From now on, when you till the ground, it won't yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth."
- Genesis 6:3 לֹֽא ptcl neg Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."
- Genesis 7:2 לֹ֣א ptcl neg You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female.
- Genesis 8:9 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ark; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ark.
- Genesis 8:12 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg He stayed yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she didn't return to him any more.
- Genesis 8:21 לֹֽא וְ/לֹֽא ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg Yahweh smelled the sweet savor. Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.
- Genesis 8:22 לֹ֥א ptcl neg While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
- Genesis 9:4 לֹ֥א ptcl neg But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat.
- Genesis 9:11 וְ/לֹֽא וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg I will establish my covenant with you; neither will all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither will there any more be a flood to destroy the earth."
- Genesis 9:15 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
- Genesis 9:23 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn't see their father's nakedness.
- Genesis 11:6 לֹֽא ptcl neg Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.
- Genesis 11:7 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Come, let's go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
- Genesis 12:18 לֹא ptcl neg Pharaoh called Abram, and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?
- Genesis 13:6 וְ/לֹא וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together: for their substance was great, so that they could not live together.
- Genesis 13:9 הֲ/לֹ֤א ptcl inter + ptcl neg Isn't the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left."
- Genesis 14:23 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'
- Genesis 15:3 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."
- Genesis 15:4 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."
- Genesis 15:10 לֹ֥א ptcl neg He took him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.
- Genesis 15:13 לֹ֣א ptcl neg He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.
- Genesis 15:16 לֹא ptcl neg In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."
- Genesis 16:1 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bore him no children. She had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
- Genesis 16:10 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg The angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."
- Genesis 17:5 וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made you.
- Genesis 17:12 לֹ֥א ptcl neg He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner who is not of your seed.
- Genesis 17:14 לֹֽא ptcl neg The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."
- Genesis 17:15 לֹא ptcl neg God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.
- Genesis 18:15 לֹ֥א לֹ֖א ptcl neg ptcl neg Then Sarah denied, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid." He said, "No, but you did laugh."
- Genesis 18:21 לֹ֖א ptcl neg I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me. If not, I will know."
- Genesis 18:24 וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are therein?
- Genesis 18:25 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?"
- Genesis 18:28 לֹ֣א ptcl neg What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?" He said, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."
- Genesis 18:29 לֹ֣א ptcl neg He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He said, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."
- Genesis 18:30 לֹ֣א ptcl neg He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?" He said, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."
- Genesis 18:31 לֹ֣א ptcl neg He said, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."
- Genesis 18:32 לֹ֣א ptcl neg He said, "Oh don't let the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."
- Genesis 19:2 לֹּ֔א ptcl neg and he said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you will rise up early, and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."
- Genesis 19:8 לֹֽא ptcl neg See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and do you to them as is good in your eyes. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."
- Genesis 19:19 לֹ֤א ptcl neg See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.
- Genesis 19:20 הֲ/לֹ֥א ptcl inter + ptcl neg See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."
- Genesis 19:22 לֹ֤א ptcl neg Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
- Genesis 19:33 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
- Genesis 19:35 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger arose, and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
- Genesis 20:4 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?
- Genesis 20:5 הֲ/לֹ֨א ptcl inter + ptcl neg Didn't he tell me, 'She is my sister?' She, even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this."
- Genesis 20:6 לֹא ptcl neg God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to touch her.
- Genesis 20:9 לֹא ptcl neg Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!"
- Genesis 20:12 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
- Genesis 21:10 לֹ֤א ptcl neg Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, even with Isaac."
- Genesis 21:26 לֹ֣א לֹא לֹ֥א ptcl neg ptcl neg ptcl neg Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today."
- Genesis 22:12 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
- Genesis 22:16 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg and said, "I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,
- Genesis 23:6 לֹֽא ptcl neg "Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. In the choice of our tombs bury your dead. None of us will withhold from you his tomb, but that you may bury your dead."
- Genesis 23:11 לֹֽא ptcl neg "No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead."
- Genesis 24:3 לֹֽא ptcl neg I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live.
- Genesis 24:5 לֹא ptcl neg The servant said to him, "What if the woman isn't willing to follow me to this land? Must I bring your son again to the land you came from?"
- Genesis 24:8 לֹ֨א לֹ֥א ptcl neg ptcl neg If the woman isn't willing to follow you, then you shall be clear from this my oath. Only you shall not bring my son there again."
- Genesis 24:16 לֹ֣א ptcl neg The young lady was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, neither had any man known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher, and came up.
- Genesis 24:21 לֹֽא ptcl neg The man looked steadfastly at her, holding his peace, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey prosperous or not.
- Genesis 24:27 לֹֽא ptcl neg He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me in the way to the house of my master's relatives."
- Genesis 24:33 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Food was set before him to eat. But he said, "I will not eat until I have told my message." He said, "Speak on."
- Genesis 24:37 לֹא ptcl neg My master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
- Genesis 24:38 לֹ֧א ptcl neg but you shall go to my father's house, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.'
- Genesis 24:39 לֹא ptcl neg I said to my master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?'
- Genesis 24:41 לֹ֤א ptcl neg Then will you be clear from my oath, when you come to my relatives. If they don't give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.'
- Genesis 24:49 לֹ֕א ptcl neg Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me. That I may turn to the right hand, or to the left."
- Genesis 24:50 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Then Laban and Bethuel answered, "The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can't speak to you bad or good.
- Genesis 26:22 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."
- Genesis 26:29 לֹ֣א ptcl neg that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh."
- Genesis 27:2 לֹ֥א ptcl neg He said, "See now, I am old. I don't know the day of my death.
- Genesis 27:12 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg What if my father touches me? I will seem to him as a deceiver, and I would bring a curse on myself, and not a blessing."
- Genesis 27:21 לֹֽא ptcl neg Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not."
- Genesis 27:23 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg He didn't recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother, Esau's hands. So he blessed him.
- Genesis 27:36 הֲ/לֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg He said, "Isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright. See, now he has taken away my blessing." He said, "Haven't you reserved a blessing for me?"
- Genesis 28:1 לֹֽא ptcl neg Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
- Genesis 28:6 לֹֽא ptcl neg Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,"
- Genesis 28:15 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."
- Genesis 28:16 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn't know it."
- Genesis 29:7 לֹא ptcl neg He said, "Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the cattle together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them."
- Genesis 29:8 לֹ֣א ptcl neg They said, "We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep."
- Genesis 29:25 הֲ/לֹ֤א ptcl inter + ptcl neg It happened in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. He said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"
- Genesis 29:26 לֹא ptcl neg Laban said, "It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the first born.
- Genesis 30:1 לֹ֤א ptcl neg When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."
- Genesis 30:31 לֹא ptcl neg He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
- Genesis 30:40 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.
- Genesis 30:42 לֹ֣א ptcl neg but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
- Genesis 31:7 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg Your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt me.
- Genesis 31:15 הֲ/ל֧וֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money.
- Genesis 31:27 וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;
- Genesis 31:28 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg and didn't allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.
- Genesis 31:32 לֹ֣א וְ/לֹֽא ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg With whoever you find your gods, he shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and take it." For Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen them.
- Genesis 31:33 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.
- Genesis 31:34 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them.
- Genesis 31:35 ל֤וֹא וְ/לֹ֥א ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg She said to her father, "Don't let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me." He searched, but didn't find the teraphim.
- Genesis 31:38 לֹ֣א לֹ֥א ptcl neg ptcl neg These twenty years have I been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the rams of your flocks.
- Genesis 31:39 לֹא ptcl neg That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
- Genesis 31:52 לֹֽא לֹא ptcl neg ptcl neg May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
- Genesis 32:12 לֹא ptcl neg You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'"
- Genesis 32:25 לֹ֤א ptcl neg When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled.
- Genesis 32:26 לֹ֣א ptcl neg The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Jacob said, "I won't let you go, unless you bless me."
- Genesis 32:28 לֹ֤א ptcl neg He said, "Your name will no longer be called 'Jacob,' but, 'Israel,' for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed."
- Genesis 32:32 לֹֽא ptcl neg Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.
- Genesis 34:7 לֹ֥א ptcl neg The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
- Genesis 34:14 לֹ֤א ptcl neg and said to them, "We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.
- Genesis 34:17 לֹ֧א ptcl neg But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone."
- Genesis 34:19 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.
- Genesis 34:23 הֲ/ל֥וֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg Won't their cattle and their substance and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us."
- Genesis 35:5 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg They traveled: and a terror of God was on the cities that were round about them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob.
- Genesis 35:10 לֹֽא ptcl neg God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel." He named him Israel.
- Genesis 36:7 וְ/לֹ֨א conj + ptcl neg For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels couldn't bear them because of their cattle.
- Genesis 37:4 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.
- Genesis 37:13 הֲ/ל֤וֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here I am."
- Genesis 37:21 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life."
- Genesis 37:22 אַל ptcl neg Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"-- that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.
- Genesis 37:32 לֹֽא ptcl neg They took the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, "We have found this. Examine it, now, whether it is your son's coat or not."
- Genesis 38:9 לֹּ֥א ptcl neg Onan knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
- Genesis 38:14 לֹֽא ptcl neg She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife.
- Genesis 38:16 לֹ֣א ptcl neg He turned to her by the way, and said, "Please come, let me come in to you:" for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"
- Genesis 38:20 וְ/לֹ֖א conj + ptcl neg Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he didn't find her.
- Genesis 38:21 לֹא ptcl neg Then he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?" They said, "There has been no prostitute here."
- Genesis 38:22 לֹ֣א לֹא ptcl neg ptcl neg He returned to Judah, and said, "I haven't found her; and also the men of the place said, 'There has been no prostitute here.'"
- Genesis 38:23 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Judah said, "Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this kid, and you haven't found her."
- Genesis 38:26 לֹא וְ/לֹֽא ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son." He knew her again no more.
- Genesis 39:6 וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg He left all that he had in Joseph's hand. He didn't concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate. Joseph was well-built and handsome.
- Genesis 39:8 לֹא ptcl neg But he refused, and said to his master's wife, "Behold, my master doesn't know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand.
- Genesis 39:9 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg He isn't greater in this house than I, neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
- Genesis 39:10 וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg It happened that as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he didn't listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
- Genesis 40:8 הֲ/ל֤וֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me."
- Genesis 40:15 לֹא ptcl neg For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon."
- Genesis 40:23 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg Yet the chief cupbearer didn't remember Joseph, but forgot him.
- Genesis 41:19 לֹֽא ptcl neg and, behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.
- Genesis 41:21 וְ/לֹ֤א conj + ptcl neg and when they had eaten them up, it couldn't be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
- Genesis 41:31 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous.
- Genesis 41:36 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine."
- Genesis 41:44 לֹֽא ptcl neg Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt."
- Genesis 42:2 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die."
- Genesis 42:4 לֹא ptcl neg But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm happen to him."
- Genesis 42:8 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him.
- Genesis 42:10 לֹ֣א ptcl neg They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
- Genesis 42:11 לֹא ptcl neg We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies."
- Genesis 42:12 לֹ֕א ptcl neg He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land."
- Genesis 42:16 לֹ֕א ptcl neg Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies."
- Genesis 42:20 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die." They did so.
- Genesis 42:21 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg They said one to another, "We are most assuredly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come on us."
- Genesis 42:22 הֲ/לוֹא֩ וְ/לֹ֣א ptcl inter + ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg Reuben answered them, saying, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'Don't sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required."
- Genesis 42:23 לֹ֣א ptcl neg They didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.
- Genesis 42:31 לֹ֥א ptcl neg We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies.
- Genesis 42:34 לֹ֤א ptcl neg Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'"
- Genesis 42:37 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again."
- Genesis 42:38 לֹֽא ptcl neg He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him by the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."
- Genesis 43:3 לֹֽא ptcl neg Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'
- Genesis 43:5 לֹ֣א לֹֽא ptcl neg ptcl neg but if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'"
- Genesis 43:8 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.
- Genesis 43:9 לֹ֨א ptcl neg I will be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I don't bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,
- Genesis 43:22 לֹ֣א ptcl neg We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don't know who put our money in our sacks."
- Genesis 43:32 לֹ֨א ptcl neg They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians don't eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
- Genesis 44:4 לֹ֣א ptcl neg When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good?
- Genesis 44:5 הֲ/ל֣וֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'"
- Genesis 44:15 הֲ/ל֣וֹא ptcl inter + ptcl neg Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?"
- Genesis 44:22 לֹא ptcl neg We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
- Genesis 44:23 לֹ֥א לֹ֥א ptcl neg ptcl neg You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.'
- Genesis 44:26 לֹ֥א לֹ֣א ptcl neg ptcl neg We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'
- Genesis 44:28 וְ/לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces;" and I haven't seen him since.
- Genesis 44:32 לֹ֤א ptcl neg For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I don't bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.'
- Genesis 45:1 וְ/לֹֽא וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg Then Joseph couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" There stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
- Genesis 45:3 וְ/לֹֽא conj + ptcl neg Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.
- Genesis 45:8 לֹֽא ptcl neg So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 45:26 לֹא ptcl neg They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, for he didn't believe them.
- Genesis 47:9 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."
- Genesis 47:18 לֹֽא לֹ֤א ptcl neg ptcl neg When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of cattle are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.
- Genesis 47:19 וְ/לֹ֣א לֹ֥א conj + ptcl neg ptcl neg Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won't be desolate."
- Genesis 47:22 לֹ֣א לֹ֥א ptcl neg ptcl neg Only he didn't buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn't sell their land.
- Genesis 47:26 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn't become Pharaoh's.
- Genesis 48:10 לֹ֥א ptcl neg Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn't see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
- Genesis 48:11 לֹ֣א ptcl neg Israel said to Joseph, "I didn't think I would see your face, and, behold, God has let me see your seed also."
- Genesis 48:18 לֹא ptcl neg Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
- Genesis 49:10 לֹֽא ptcl neg The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
Exodus 201 verses
- Exodus 1:8 לֹֽא ptcl neg Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn't know Joseph.
- Exodus 1:17 וְ/לֹ֣א conj + ptcl neg But the midwives feared God, and didn't do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
- Exodus 1:19 לֹ֧א ptcl neg The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them."
- Exodus 2:3 וְ/לֹא conj + ptcl neg When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.
- Exodus 3:3 לֹא ptcl neg Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
- Exodus 3:19 לֹֽא וְ/לֹ֖א ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg I know that the king of Egypt won't give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
- Exodus 3:21 לֹ֥א ptcl neg I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
- Exodus 4:1 לֹֽא וְ/לֹ֥א לֹֽא ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg ptcl neg Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'Yahweh has not appeared to you.'"
- Exodus 4:8 לֹ֣א וְ/לֹ֣א ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg "It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
- Exodus 4:9 לֹ֣א וְ/לֹ֤א ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."
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.
At its core, לא (lôʼ) means “not.” Where the King James Version says “not,” newer translations reach for “no” (Berean Standard Bible); the renderings breakdown has the detail. It appears 3,966 verses across 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its most common vocabulary. First canonically at Genesis 2:5, it enters the text early. Carrying more than one sense, it rewards its full sense range. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
Strong's · 1890
[idiom] before
Modern gloss
not
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown.
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About this word
Strong's H3808 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 →
- 3,966
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 3,966 distinct verses.
- 39 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 39 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #8
- by frequency
- Top 10 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 8 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 3,966 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Jeremiah 361 verses 9%
- Deuteronomy 305 verses 8%
- Isaiah 275 verses 7%
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 3,966 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 1,865 verses · 47%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 1,052 verses · 27%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 1,049 verses · 26%
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: Not 5×, Except 3×, Without 3×
- American Standard Version: Not 5×, Before 3×, Except 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: No 378×, Not 369×, Will not 207×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Not 4,071×, And 807×, But 248×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3808 across 73 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 42 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H3808 across 72 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 46 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 H3808 across 4,657 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 377 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 456 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3808 across 6,227 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 138 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
17 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 17 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. in predication:
- a. with a verb; so most freq., and nearly always (a) with the finite tenses, whether pf. (Gn 2:5b; 4:5 etc.) or impf. (3:4; 8:21, 22 etc.); in short circumst. clauses, as Gn 44:4 לא הרחיקו, Is 40:20 לֹא יִמּוֹט, and with a final force 41:7 Ex 28:32 (v. Ges§ 156. 3 R. b, c Dr§ 162). Governing two closely connected verbs (Dr§115, לא) Ex 28:43 וְלֹא יִשְׂאוּ עָוֹן וָמֵתוּ, Lv 19:12, 29 b Dt 7:25, 26; 19:10; 22:1 al.; and two parallel clauses (Ges§ 152. 3) Is 23:4b ψ 9:19; 44:19 Jb 3:11 al. With the impf., especially with 2 ps., לֹא often expresses (not, like אַל, a deprecation, do not …, let not …, but) a prohibition, as Gn 2:17 לֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ thou shalt not eat of it, 3:1, 3 Ex 20:3 לֹא־יִהְיֶה לְךָ there shall not be to thee, etc., v 13 לא תגנב, etc. With the coh. and juss. moods (which are negatived regularly by אַל), it occurs only exceptionally (Ges§109. 1 b R. 1), Gn 24:8 1 S 14:36 2 S 17:12; 18:14 1 K 2:6 Ez 48:14. (b) with the inf. (which is negatived by בִּלְתִּי, q.v.), only once, in בְּלֹא (4 a), and with לְ, in the sense of cannot, or must not; †Ju 1:19 כי לא להורושׁ for it was not (possible) to dispossess, etc. Am 6:10 לא להזכיר בשׁם י׳, 1 Ch 5:1; 15:2 (Dr§ 202. 2); cf. Aramaic לָא Dan 6:9 Ezr 6:8. On its use with the ptcp., see b c. (c) לא always negatives properly the word immed. following: hence, in a verbal sentence, where this is not the verb, some special stress rests upon it, Gn 32:29 לֹא יַעֲקֹב יֵאָמֵר עוֹד וג׳ not Jacob shall thy name be called any more, but Israel, 45:8 לֹא אַתֶּם שְׁלַחְתֶּם אֹתִי Not ye (in our idiom: It is not ye who) have sent me hither, but God, Ex 16:8 1 S 8:7 כִּי לֹא אֹתְךָ מָאָסוּ כִּי אֹתִי וג׳, ψ 115:17; without a foll. correcting clause, Gn 38:9 Nu 16:29 לֹא י׳ שְׁלָחָנִי ׃ Not י׳ (but another) hath sent me, Dt 32:27 לֹא י׳ פָּעַל זֹאת, 1 Ch 17:4 Dt 8:9 Is 28:28 לא לנצח … not for ever (but only for a while) … (so 57:16 ψ 9:19; 49:20; 103:9; but Is 13:20 לא תשׁב לנצח is, will not be inhabited for ever), Is 43:22 Jb 13:16; 32:9; hence rhetorically, insinuating something very different, not named, 2 K 6:10 not once, and not twice (but repeatedly), Ezr 10:13 Je 4:11 a wind לֹא לְזָרוֹת וְלוֹא לְהָבַֽר׃ not to winnow, and not to cleanse (but to exterminate), Is 45:13; 48:1b Jos 24:12 Dn 11:20, 29 Jb 34:20 לֹא בְיָד (but by a Divine agency: cf. Dn 2:34; also Jb 20:26 אֵשׁ לֹא נֻפָּ֑ח fire not blown upon [but kindled from heaven], Lam 4:6; and אין Is 47:14). (d) standing alone: (a) אִם־לֹא if not, Gn 18:21 וְאִם־לֹא אֵדָֽעָה׃, 24:49; 42:16 Jb 9:24; 24:25; (β) הֲ … אִם־לֹא, or not, Gn 24:21 waiting to know הַהִצְלִיחַ י׳ דַּדְכּוֹ אִם־לֹא, 27:21; 37:32 Ex 16:4 Nu 11:23 Dt 8:2 Ju 2:22 (cf. אִם אַיִן, אַיִן 2 d β, δ). In answer to a question or request, to deny, or decline, Nay, No: Ju 12:5 ויאמר לא, Hg 2:12; לא אדני Gn 23:11; 42:10 1 S 1:15 +; often sq. כי, No: for … = No: but …, Gn 18:15 ויאמר לֹא כִּי צָחָ֑קְתְּ, 19:2 Jos 5:14; 24:21; 1 S 2:16 Qr (v. Dr), 10:19 (𝔊 MSS), 2 S 16:18; 24:24 1 K 3:22(×2) +; Jb 23:6 (strangely). (Cf., in deprecation, אַל.) (e) with an interrog. force, which however does not lie in לא as such, but (as in other cases) in the contrast with a preceding clause, or in the tone of voice (cf. וְ 1 f; Ew§ 324 a Ges§ 150. 1 Dr 1 S 11:12): Jon 4:11 אַתָּה חַסְתָּ … וַאֲנִי לֹא אָחוּס וג׳, Jb 2:10; 22:11; Ex 8:22; 2 K 5:26 Je 49:9 (‖ Ob 5 הֲלוֹא), Mal 2:15 La 3:38; and in passages, exeg. or text. doubtful (v. Comm.), 1 S 20:14 2 S 23:5 (but v. Bu), Ho 10:9 (Ew We), 11:5 (Ew), Jb 14:16b (but 𝔊 Ew Di תַעֲבֹר), La 1:12 (Ew Ke), 3:36 (Ke Bä). e.g. Genesis 2:5
- b. with adjs. and substs.: (a) Gn 2:18 לֹא טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ not good is man’s being alone, Ex 18:17 + often (b) Ex 4:16 לֹא אִישׁ דְּבָרִים אָנֹכִי, Am 7:14 לא נביא אנכי, Nu 23:19 לֹא אִישׁ אֵל וִיכַזֵּב, Dt 17:15 (v. אשׁר 2 b) 20:20; 32:47 1 S 15:29 2 S 18:20 לֹא אִישׁ בְּשֹׂרָה אַתָּה הַיּוֹם, 21:2 1 K 22:33 2 K 6:19 לא זֹה הדרך, Mi 2:10 Is 27:11 Ho 8:6; והמה לא אלהים Je 2:11; 16:20 2 K 19:18; 1 K 19:11(×2) לֹא בָרַעַשׁ י׳, Dt 30:12, 13 Jb 15:9; 28:14 לֹא בִי הִיא (‖ אֵין עִמָּדִי), ψ 74:9 Je 5:10 לוא לי׳ המה, 10:16; Dt 32:21 בָּנִים לֹא אֵמוּן בָּם, Je 10:14 Hb 1:14 Jb 16:17; 38:26 מִדְבָּר לֹא אָדָם בּוֹ; 1 K 22:17 לֹא אֲדֹנִים לָאֵלֶּה, Je 49:31 ψ 22:3 וְלֹא דוּמִיָּה לִי, Jb 18:17, 19; 29:12 ולא עֹזֵר לו, 30:13; 33:9; Je 2:19 וְלֹא פַחְדָּתִי אֵלַיִךְ and (that) my terror reached not unto thee, Jb 21:9; abs. Gn 29:7 לֹא־עֵת הֵאָסֵף הַמִּקְנֶה (Hg 1:2), Nu 20:5 2 K 4:23 לא חדשׁ ולא שׁבת, Is 44:19 Je 5:12 ויאמרו לוא הוא, Jb 9:32; 22:16; 36:26 (?) 41:2; Pr 19:7 (si vera l.) מְרַדֵּף אֲמָרִים לֹא־הֵמָּה words which are not, which are nought. (c) with the ptcp. לֹא is rare, a finite vb. being usually preferred (Ex 34:7 וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה: Ew§ 320 c Dr§ 162): 2 S 3:34 יָדֶיךָ לֹא אֲסֻרוֹת, Ez 4:14; 22:24 Dt 28:61 ψ 38:15 כְּאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא שֹׁמֵעַ who is not hearing, Jb 12:3; 13:2 לֹא נֹפֵל אָנֹכִי מִכֶּם, Zp 3:5 (very anom.); 1 K 10:21 לא is prob. textual error. In וְהוּא לֹא שֹׂנֵא לוֹ or לא שׂנא הוא לו, Dt 4:42; 19:4, 6 Jos 20:5 (cf. אֹיֵב Nu 35:23), שׂנֵא is best construed as a subst., he being a not-hater to him aforetime.—In most of the cases under b, c, אין could have been employed; but the negation by לֹא is more pointed and forcible. e.g. Genesis 2:18
- 2. Not in predication:
- a. coupled to an adj. to negative it, like the Gk. ἀ—, but usually by way of litotes: Ho 13:13 בן לא־חכם an unwise son, ψ 36:5 דֶּרֶךְ לֹא טוֹב a way not good, 43:1 גוי לא חסיד, Pr 16:29; 30:25, 26 Ez 20:25 2 Ch 30:17: Is 16:14 לוֹא כַבִּיר, cf. 10:7 לֹא מְעַט. e.g. Hosea 13:13
- b. with a ptcp. Je 2:2 ארץ לא זרועה, 18:15 (the finite verb is more common: see Is 62:12 עִיר לֹא נֶעֱזָ֫בָה (cf. 54:11), Je 6:8 אֶרֶץ לוֹא נוֹשָׁ֫בָה, 15:18; 22:6; 31:18 Zp 2:1). e.g. Jeremiah 2:2
- c. †Gn 15:13 בארץ לא להם, Je 5:19 Hab 1:6 מִשְׁכָּנוֹת לֹא־לוֹ, Pr 26:17 רִיב לֹא־לוֹ. e.g. Genesis 15:13
- d. with a subst., in poetry, forming a kind of compound, expressing pointedly its antithesis or negation (Germ. un- is sometimes used similarly): Dt 32:5 (?), 17, 21 a they made me jealous בְּלֹא אֵל with a not-God (with what in no respect deserved the name of God), v b בְּלֹא עָם i.e. with an unorganized horde, Am 6:13 הַשְּׂמֵחִים לְלֹא דָבָר i.e. at a thing wh. is not, an unreality (of their boasted strength), Is 10:15 כְּהָרִים מַטֶּה לֹא עֵץ like a rod’s lifting up what is no wood (but the agent wielding it), 31:8 חרב לא אישׁ, חרב לא אדם, 55:2 בלוא לחם for what is not bread, בלוא לשׂבעה for what is not for satiety, Je 5:7 וַיּשָּֽׁבְעוּ בְּלֹא אֱלֹהִים by not-goods, in late prose 2 Ch 13:9 כֹּהֵן לְלֹא אֱלֹהִים; ψ 44:13 תִּמְכֹּר עַמְּךָ בְּלֹא־הוֹן for no-value (i.e. cheaply), Pr 13:23 Jb 10:22 צלמות וְלֹא סְדָרִים darkness and disorder; so לֹא־עַמִּי Ho 1:9; 2:25: still more pregnantly Jb 26:2a מֶה־עָזַרְתָּ לְלֹא־כֹחַ (poet. for לאשׁר אין לו כח) the powerless, v 2b, 3a (Ew§ 286 g Ges§ 152. 1 n.), 39:16 הִקְשִׁיחַ בָּנֶיהָ לְלֹא לָהּ useth hardly her young ones (making them) into none of hers; and even Hb 2:6 הַמַּרְבֶּה לֹא־לוֹ what is not his own (cf. Jb 18:15 מִבְּלִי לוֹ). Cf. with a verb, and ellipse of אשׁר, Is 65:1 לְלֹא שָׁאָ֑לוּ to those who have not asked, v b Je 2:8 אַחֲרֵי לֹא יוֹעִילוּ, v 11b; also לֹא רֻחָ֫מָה Ho 1:6, 8; 2:25, and prob. Jb 31:31 לֹא נִשְׂבָּ֑ע (pf. in p.) one not satisfied. e.g. Deuteronomy 32:5
- e. in circ. clauses (Dr§ 164), poet. and rare: qualifying a subst., 2 S 23:4 בֹּקֶר לֹא עָבוֹת a morning without clouds, Job 12:24 בְּתֹהוּ לֹא דֶרֶךְ in a pathless waste, 38:26a; and a verb Jb 34:24 יָרֹעַ כַּבִּירִים לֹא חֵקֶר without inquiry, ψ 59:4 לא פשׁעי ולא חטאתי (cf. v 4 בלי עון), in late prose, twice, 1 Ch 2:30, 32 וימת לא בנים (אֵין and בְּלִי, q.v., are more usual in such cases). e.g. 2 Samuel 23:4
- 3. Once (according to many MSS), as a subst., Jb 6:21 כִּי־עַתָּה הֱיִיתֶם לֹא for now are ye become nothing, Hi De Kö (cf. Dn 4:32 (Aramaic) כְּלָה חֲשִׁיבִין; 𝔗 here הֲוֵיתוּן כְּלָא, and אַל Jb 24:25); but reading fluctuates (Orientals לֹא, Qr לו, Westerns, Baer (v. pp. 37, 56) לוֹ [‘now are ye become that,’ viz. the נַחַל אַכְזָב of v 15]; but even לוֹ yields a forced sense; and text is prob. wrong: Mich Ew Ol Sgf Bu כֵּן … לִי (𝔊 𝔖 also read לִי); Bö Di כִּי … לְאָ֑יִן. Cf. Köii. 1. 236 f. e.g. Job 6:21
- 4. With prefixes:—
- a. †בְּלֹא31 (chiefly poet. or late), according to the varying signif. of בְּ: (a) usually with not = without, Je 22:13 בונה ביתו בלא־צדק without justice (‖ בלא משׁפט; so Ez 22:29 Pr 16:8), Is 55:1, 1 Pr 19:2, Jb 8:11 הֲיִגְאֶה־גֹּמֶא בְּלֹא בִצָּה without mire (‖ בלי מים), 30:28 בְּלֹא חַמָּה (= not through the sun), La 1:6 וילכו בלא־כח, Nu 35:22 בְּלֹא אֵיבָה … בְּלֹא צְדִיָּה, v 23 (sq. inf.) בְּלֹא רְאוֹת, 2 Ch 21:20 Ec 10:11; ψ 17:1 תְּפִלָּתִי בְּלֹא שִׂפְתֵי מִרְמָה; used more freely in Chr, 1 Ch 12:18 בְּלֹא חָמָס בְּכַפָּֽי׃, v 34 בְּלֹא לֵב וָלֵב, 2 Ch 30:18 בְּלֹא כַכָּתוּב. With ellipse of rel., La 4:14 בְּלֹא יוּכְלוּ יִגְּעוּ without (that) men are able to touch, etc. (b) of time, in not, i.e. outside of, Lv 15:25 בלא עֶת־נִדָּתָתּ, before Jb 15:32 בלא־יומו, Ec 7:17 בְּלֹא עִתֶּךְ ׃. (c) where לֹא belongs to the foll. word, and is only accidentally preceded by ב (v. supr. 2 d), Dt 32:21(×2) Je 5:7 Pr 13:23 בלא משׁפט through injustice; with בְּ pretii, ψ 44:13 Is 55:2(×2) Je 2:11 בְּלוֹא יוֹעִיל for (that which) profiteth not. e.g. Jeremiah 22:13
- b. הֲלֹא nonne? Gn 4:7 + often Inviting, as it does, an affirmative answer, it is often used, (a) especially in conversation, for pointing to a fact in such a way as to arouse the interest of the person addressed, or to win his assent: Gn 13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? 19:20; 20:5; 27:36; 29:25 Ex 4:11 Who maketh dumb or deaf, etc.? Do not I? 33:16 Ju 4:6, 14; 8:2; 9:28, 38 1 S 9:20, 21; 15:17 etc.; with a vb. in 1 ps., Jos 1:9 הלא צויתיך, Ju 6:14 הלא שׁלחתיך, 1 S 20:30; 2 S 19:23 Ru 2:9: similarly in a poet. or rhet. style, Ju 5:30 הלא ימצאו יחלקו שׁלל, Is 8:19; 10:8, 9, 11; 28:25; 29:17; 40:21, 23; 42:24; 43:19 etc., Jb 4:6, 21; 7:1; 10:10, 20, etc. (β) it has a tendency to become little more than an affirm. particle, declaring with some rhetor. emph. what is, or might be, well known: Dt 3:11 הֲלֹה הִיא בְרַבַּת בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן, 11:30 1 S 21:12 הלוא זה דוד וג׳ (cf. 29:3, 5 2 S 11:3), 23:19; 26:1 2 S 15:35; it is thus nearly = הִנֵּה (𝔊 sometimes represents it by ἰδού, as Jos 1:9 Ju 6:14 Ru 2:9 2 S 15:35); so especially in the phrase of the compiler of K, And the rest of the acts of … הֲלֹא הֵם (הֵמָּה) כְּתוּבִים are they not written in, etc.? 1 K 11:41; 14:29 + often (with which there interchanges הִנָּם כְּתוּבִים 1 K 14:19 2 K 15:11; 15:26, 31, which is gen. used by the Chr, 2 Ch 16:11; 20:34, etc.), Jos 10:13 (cf. 2 S 1:18 הִנֵּה), 1 K 8:53 𝔊, Est 10:2; ψ 56:14 (strangely: contr. 116:8).—הֲלֹא הִנֵּה †Hb 2:13 2 Ch 25:26 (הִנָּם).—On Ju 14:15, see הֲ 1 end. e.g. Genesis 4:7
- c. †וָלֹ֕א and not = and if not, 2 S 13:26 2 K 5:17. Comp. וָיֵשׁ. e.g. 2 Samuel 13:26
- d. †כְּלוֹא Ob 16 והיו כלוא היו, poet. for כאשׁר, as though they had not been. e.g. Obadiah 1:16
- e. †לְלֹא without, lit. in the condition of no … 2 Ch 15:3 (comp. לְאֵין, also in Chr). Elsewhere לא belongs to the foll. word, Am 6:13 2 Ch 13:9 Is 65:1(×2) Jb 26:2, 3; 39:16 (v. supr. 2 d). e.g. 2 Chronicles 15:3
- —Fifteen times, according to Mas. (v. De ψ 100:3 FrMM 247 Str Prol. Cr. 84), לא is written by error for לוֹ, viz. Ex 21:8 Lv 11:21; 25:30 1 S 2:3 2 S 16:18 2 K 8:10 Is 9:2; 63:9 ψ 100:3; 139:16 Jb 13:15; 41:4 Pr 19:7; 26:2 Ezr 4:2 (always with Qr לוֹ). The passages must be considered each upon its own merits: in some לוֹ yields a preferable sense; but this is not the case in all. There is the same קרי (rightly) on Is 49:5 1 Ch 11:20; but these were not considered to rest upon equal authority, and are hence not reckoned with the fifteen.—In Ju 21:22 (v. GFM), 1 S 13:13; 20:14(×2), and in Jb 9:33 (לֹא יֵשׁ), read prob. לֻא for לֹא. e.g. Psalms 100:3
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
or לוֹא adv. not (Arabic لَا, Aramaic לָא, ܠܴܐ, Sab. לא, Assyrian lâ; not in Ethiopic: cf. Köii. 1. 236 Walker AJSL 1896, 237 ff.)—לוֹא, according to Mass. (FrMM 248), 35 times, besides בְּלוֹא 6 times, and הֲלוֹא, the orthogr. of which varies much (ib.p. 251), e.g. in S always הֲלוֹא, in Chr always הֲלֹא, on the whole הֲלוֹא 141 times, הֲלֹא 128 times; twice, according to Mass, written לו (Qr לֹא), 1 S 2:16; 20:2, once לה Dt 3:11 Kt:—not—denying objectively, like οὐ (not μὴ = אַל):—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive particle
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.
לֹא
- v. לַאי) not, no. Ber. I, 1 לא קרינו וכ׳ we have omitted to recite &c. Ib. III, 4 לא … ולא וכ׳ neither before nor after. Nidd. 5ᵃ לא אין להן וכ׳, no; it means &c., v. לַאו; a. v. fr.—וְלֹא indeed not? Ḥull. 4ᵇ ולא והכתיב וכ׳ indeed not (is it so that the verb הֵסִית never refers to persuasion by speech)? Do we not read &c.?; a. v. fr.—(מִצְוַת) לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה a prohibitory law, opp. עֲשֵׂה, a positive command; v. לַאו. Kidd. I, 7. Macc. 14ᵇ bot.; a. v. fr.—בְּלֹא without. Ber. 35ᵃ bot. ב׳ ברכה without pronouncing a benediction; a. v. fr.—והוא שלא, v. הוּא.
לָא I
- Targ. Gen. II, 5; a. v. fr.—Pes. 10ᵇ מקמיה … אין בתר … לא before the time when it is forbidden, yes (he must search after leavened bread); after the time, no (he must not search). Ib. לא שנא there is no difference; a. v. fr.
לָא II
- (preced. wds.) particle, mote. Yoma 20ᵇ, v. חִרְגָּא. Midr. Till. to Ps. LXVIII, 3 כלא חשיבי they are like a mote.
לָא III
- La, abbrev. of אִילָא, הִילָא; v. Fr. M’bo, p. 75ᵇ.
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 120 distinct written forms H3808 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֣א | Particle, Negative | Amos 1:3 | 824 |
| לֹא | Particle, Negative | Amos 2:14 | 725 |
| לֹֽא | Particle, Negative | Amos 4:7 | 674 |
| לֹ֥א | Particle, Negative | Amos 2:15 | 666 |
| וְ/לֹ֥א | Particle, Negative | Amos 1:9 | 416 |
| וְ/לֹֽא | Particle, Negative | Amos 3:10 | 353 |
| וְ/לֹ֣א | Particle, Negative | Amos 4:8 | 351 |
| וְ/לֹא | Particle, Negative | Amos 5:11 | 278 |
| לֹ֤א | Particle, Negative | Amos 7:16 | 195 |
| וְ/לֹ֤א | Particle, Negative | Daniel 1:19 | 90 |
| לֹ֖א | Particle, Negative | Amos 2:12 | 36 |
| הֲ/ל֣וֹא | Particle, Negative | Amos 6:13 | 32 |
| וְֽ/לֹא | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 1:29 | 32 |
| הֲ/לֹא | Particle, Negative | Amos 5:20 | 30 |
| לֹ֨א | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 22:2 | 28 |
| וְ/לֹ֖א | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 5:18 | 26 |
| לֹ֧א | Particle, Negative | Amos 3:7 | 22 |
| הֲ/לוֹא | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 32:6 | 18 |
| הֲ/לֹ֥א | Particle, Negative | Exodus 4:11 | 17 |
| הֲ/לֹ֣א | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 26:15 | 16 |
| הֲ/ל֤וֹא | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 13:7 | 15 |
| הֲ/לֽוֹא | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 37:18 | 15 |
| לא | Particle, Negative | Exodus 21:8 | 15 |
| הֲ/לֹֽא | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 24:19 | 14 |
| וְ/לֹ֨א | Particle, Negative | Amos 9:15 | 14 |
| הֲ/ל֥וֹא | Particle, Negative | Genesis 34:23 | 11 |
| הֲ/ל֨וֹא | Particle, Negative | 1 Samuel 9:21 | 11 |
| הֲ/לֹ֤א | Particle, Negative | Genesis 13:9 | 11 |
| בְּ/לֹ֣א | Particle, Negative | 2 Chronicles 21:20 | 10 |
| הֲ/לֹ֨א | Particle, Negative | Exodus 4:14 | 10 |
| וְ/לֹ֧א | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 16:16 | 10 |
| לֹא֩ | Particle, Negative | Ecclesiastes 9:11 | 9 |
| הֲ/ל֖וֹא | Particle, Negative | Exodus 33:16 | 8 |
| הֲ/ל֛וֹא | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 18:23 | 8 |
| הֲ/ל֧וֹא | Particle, Negative | Genesis 31:15 | 8 |
| לֹ֕א | Particle, Negative | Genesis 24:49 | 8 |
| הֲ/לוֹא֙ | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 13:12 | 7 |
| ל֥וֹא | Particle, Negative | Isaiah 16:14 | 7 |
| לֹ֗א | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 5:11 | 7 |
| לֹ֚א | Particle, Negative | 1 Kings 22:31 | 7 |
| הֲ/ל֗וֹא | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 24:25 | 6 |
| לֽוֹא | Particle, Negative | 1 Kings 22:18 | 6 |
| הֲ/לֹ֗א | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 31:17 | 5 |
| ו/לא | Particle, Negative | Ezra 4:2 | 5 |
| וְ/ל֥וֹא | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 24:16 | 5 |
| ל֣וֹא | Particle, Negative | Jeremiah 3:3 | 5 |
| לְ/לֹ֣א | Particle, Negative | 2 Chronicles 15:3 | 4 |
| בְּ/לֹא | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 32:21 | 4 |
| הֲ/לוֹא֩ | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 17:9 | 4 |
| לֹ֠א | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 20:33 | 4 |
| לֹֽ֣א | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 5:8 | 4 |
| בְ/לֹא | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 32:21 | 3 |
| בְּ/לֹ֥א | Particle, Negative | Ecclesiastes 7:17 | 3 |
| הֲ/לֹא֙ | Particle, Negative | 1 Chronicles 21:3 | 3 |
| הֲֽ/לֹא | Particle, Negative | Job 22:12 | 3 |
| וְ/לֹא֙ | Particle, Negative | Deuteronomy 1:42 | 3 |
| לֹ֘א | Particle, Negative | Job 18:19 | 3 |
| לֹ֞א | Particle, Negative | Ezekiel 33:27 | 3 |
| לֹ֦א | Particle, Negative | 1 Kings 10:3 | 3 |
| לֹ֪א | Particle, Negative | Psalms 44:3 | 3 |
The 60 most common forms are shown; 60 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3808, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- לא דבר Lôʼ Dᵉbar H3810 Lo-debar
- לא עמי Lôʼ ʻAmmîy H3818 Lo-ammi
- לא רחמה Lôʼ Ruchâmâh H3819 Lo-ruhamah
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 3 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
Most of the 3,966 Hebrew verses this word occurs in also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), so the same passages can be read in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 2:5
- Exodus 1:8
- Leviticus 1:17
- Numbers 1:47
- Deuteronomy 1:9
- Joshua 1:5
- Judges 1:19
- Ruth 2:8
- 1 Samuel 1:7
- 2 Samuel 1:10
- 1 Kings 1:1
- 2 Kings 1:4
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.
