אַל
not
also: no, nor, neither, nothing fuller range ↓
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.
- Preposition
- A relational word (e.g. “in,” “to,” “from”) governing a noun.
Every verse where H408 appears in the Book of Genesis — 34 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.
Genesis
- Genesis 13:8 אַל ptcl neg Abram said to Lot, "Please, let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are relatives.
- Genesis 15:1 אַל ptcl neg After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."
- Genesis 18:3 אַל ptcl neg and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant.
- Genesis 18:30 אַל 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 18:32 אַל 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 19:7 אַל ptcl neg He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.
- Genesis 19:8 אַל 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 19:17 אַל וְ/אַֽל ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, neither stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed!"
- Genesis 19:18 אַל ptcl neg Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.
- Genesis 21:12 אַל ptcl neg God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called.
- Genesis 21:16 אַל ptcl neg She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
- Genesis 21:17 אַל ptcl neg God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
- Genesis 22:12 אַל וְ/אַל ptcl neg 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 24:56 אַל ptcl neg He said to them, "Don't hinder me, seeing Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master."
- Genesis 26:2 אַל ptcl neg Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Dwell in the land which I will tell you of.
- Genesis 26:24 אַל ptcl neg Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."
- Genesis 31:35 אַל 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 33:10 אַל ptcl neg Jacob said, "Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me.
- Genesis 35:17 אַל ptcl neg It happened that, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son."
- 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 37:27 אַל ptcl neg Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him.
- Genesis 42:22 אַל 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 43:23 אַל ptcl neg He said, "Peace be to you. Don't be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.
- Genesis 44:18 וְ/אַל conj + ptcl neg Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and don't let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.
- Genesis 45:5 אַל וְ/אַל ptcl neg conj + ptcl neg Now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
- Genesis 45:9 אַֽל ptcl neg Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don't wait.
- Genesis 45:20 אַל ptcl neg Also, don't concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours."
- Genesis 45:24 אַֽל ptcl neg So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, "See that you don't quarrel on the way."
- Genesis 46:3 אַל ptcl neg He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down into Egypt; for there I will make of you a great nation.
- Genesis 47:29 אַל ptcl neg The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don't bury me in Egypt,
- Genesis 49:4 אַל ptcl neg Boiling over as water, you shall not have the pre-eminence; Because you went up to your father's bed; Then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
- Genesis 49:6 אַל אַל ptcl neg ptcl neg My soul, don't come into their council; My glory, don't be united to their assembly; For in their anger they killed a man, In their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
- Genesis 50:19 אַל ptcl neg Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
- Genesis 50:21 אַל ptcl neg Now therefore don't be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
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.
אל — transliterated ʼal — is a Hebrew word carrying the sense “not.” It also covers “no”, “nor”, and “neither”, alongside “not” — see its full sense range. It appears 572 verses across 37 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its most common vocabulary. Debuting at Genesis 13:8, it then recurs through the corpus. Related forms include לא, אל and אלו. See the sense tree, 572-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H408 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 →
- 572
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 572 distinct verses.
- 37 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 37 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #70
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 70 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 572 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 572 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 247 verses · 43%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 236 verses · 41%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 89 verses · 16%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Let me never 2×
- American Standard Version†: Let me never 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Do not 455×, Not 33×, No 26×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Not 583×, And 104×, Do not 62×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H408 across 12† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H408 across 12† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H408 across 662† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 44 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 58 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H408 across 807† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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 3 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.
אל I (= اَلْ, Ar. article, preserved perh. in following words derived by Hebrews from (or through) Arabic-speaking tribes
אל II
- a. (a) with a verb, which is then always an impf. (never an imperative), by preference in the cohort. or jussive mood, where this is in use, and may be of any person or number; Gn 15:1 and often אַל־תִּירָא fear not! 22:12 אַל־תִּשְׁלַח יָֽדְךָ put not forth thy hand, 37:27 וְיָדֵנוּ אַל־תְּהִי־בוֹ and let not our hand be upon him, 21:16 אַל־אֶרְאֶה let me not look upon the death of the lad! ψ 25:2 אַל־אֵבוֹשָׁה let me not be ashamed; with 1 pl. (rare) 2 S 13:25 Je 18:18 Jon 1:14. In an imprecation: Gn 49:4 אַל־תּוֹתַר have not thou the excellency! ψ 109:12 Jb 3:4, 6. Sometimes strengthened by נָא: Gn 13:8 18:3 al. (b) without a verb, (α) 2 S 1:21 let (there be) not dew & not rain upon you! Is 62:6 ψ 83:2. (β) used absol., in deprecation Gn 19:18 2 S 13:16 (v. sub אוֹדָה) 2 K 3:13; 4:16; 6:27 (v. RVm: but possibly to be expl. by Dr§ 152 iii; so Th Ke: hardly as Ew§ 355b) Ru 1:13 אַל בְּנֹתַי Nay, my daughters, cf. Ju 19:23; (γ) after a preceding imper. Am 5:14 Jo 2:13 Pr 8:10, a juss. 27:2, an inf. abs. 17:12. (c) in poetry אַל sometimes expresses vividly the emotion or sympathy of the poet (v. Dr§ 56–8); Is 2:9 וְאַל־תִּשָּׂא לָהֶם and forgive them not! (with a touch of passion), ψ 41:3 Pr 3:25 Jb 5:22; ψ 34:6 (but 𝔊 𝔖 Ew Che here rd. וּפְנֵיכֶם, prob. rightly); 50:3a may our God come וְאַל־יֶ֫חֱרָ֥שׁ and not be silent! (the psalmist identifying himself with a spectator of the scene v 2, 3b–c) 121:3 (contrast v 4 לֹא) Je 46:6 +., e.g. Genesis 15:1
- b. once Pr 12:28 joined closely to a subst. (cf. לֹא 2b): In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof אַל־מָוֶת there is no-death!; but error for אֶל־ ‘unto’ Capp 𝔊 𝔙 𝔗 𝔅. e.g. Proverbs 12:28
- c. once Jb 24:25 used poet. as a subst., And bring my words לְאַל to nought!—N.B. 1 S 27:10 אַל־פְּשַׁטְתֶּם הַיּוֹם, אַל with the pf. is against all analogy; and either אֶל־מִי (with 𝔊 𝔙), or better אָן whither? (with 𝔖 𝔗: v. 1 S 10:14) must be read. e.g. Job 24:25
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
I. (= اَلْ, Ar. article, preserved perh. in following words derived by Hebrews from (or through) Arabic-speaking tribes; cf. Eng. algebra, Alhambra, alkali, alcohol, alcove, etc.)
II. adv. of negation (so Ph. e.g. CIS i.3,4.5.8, Bi Aramaic, Sab. (DHMZMG 1875, 596), and in the Eth. አልቦ albo, is not), denying however, not objectively as a fact (like לֹא, οὐ), but subjectively as a wish (like μή), expressing therefore a deprecation or prohibition:
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from לא (lôʼ) (H3808) — not.
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.
אַל־
- a prefix, = עַל; e.g. אַלְתּוּסְבְּרָאוֹת (= על האוצרות) appointed over treasures, v. אַ־.
אַל
- (b. h.) not, no (according to Talmud a milder form of prohibition than לֹא; v. Y. Pes. VI, 33ᵇ). Aboth I, 3.—אל תקרי (abbr. א"ת), v. אֶלָּא. Taan. 11ᵃ א׳ יראה וכ׳ shall not live to see &c.; a. v. fr.
אֶל
- אול to turn) prep. to, toward. — Pl., with prefix מ a. suffix of pers. pron., of itself, of my (his &c.) own accord, on my (his &c.) authority. Yoma 5ᵇ לא מֵאֵלַי not on my own authority. Orlah I, 2 העולה מֵאֵלָיו growing spontaneously.—Y. Peah VII, 20ᵇ bot. its sacred character מֵאֵלָיו למדו they did derive from itself (i.e. from the wording of the law itself).—Hence מִמֵּילָא, v. מֵילָא.
אֵל
- v. אלל) God. Shebu. 35ᵃ divine names which dare not be erased are El &c. Taan. 6ᵇ bot.; a. fr.
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 16 distinct written forms H408 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| אַל | Particle, Negative | Daniel 9:19 | 500 |
| וְ/אַל | Particle, Negative | Amos 5:14 | 124 |
| אַֽל | Particle, Negative | Ecclesiastes 8:3 | 65 |
| וְ/אַֽל | Particle, Negative | Amos 5:5 | 13 |
| וְֽ/אַל | Particle, Negative | 2 Samuel 3:29 | 9 |
| אֶל | Preposition | Deuteronomy 2:9 | 3 |
| אַ֣ל | Particle, Negative | Proverbs 31:4 | 2 |
| אֲל | Particle, Negative | Psalms 35:22 | 1 |
| אַ֖ל | Particle, Negative | 1 Samuel 2:24 | 1 |
| אַ֗ל | Particle, Negative | 2 Kings 3:13 | 1 |
| אַ֤ל | Particle, Negative | Proverbs 31:4 | 1 |
| אַ֨ל | Particle, Negative | Jonah 3:7 | 1 |
| אַֽל | Particle, Negative | Psalms 71:9 | 1 |
| וְ/אֶל | Preposition | Jeremiah 51:3 | 1 |
| וְ/אַ֣ל | Particle, Negative | Psalms 119:36 | 1 |
| לְ֝/אַ֗ל | Particle, Negative | Job 24:25 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H408, 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.
Derives from
Derived from this word
- אל ʼal H409 not
- אלו ʼillûw H432 if
- אליל ʼĕlîyl H457 worthless
- אלקום ʼalqûwm H510 not
- אל תשחת ʼAl tashchêth H516 do not destroy
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 10 — 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
This word appears in 516 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 572 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
- Genesis 13:8
- Exodus 3:5
- Leviticus 10:6
- Numbers 4:18
- Deuteronomy 1:21
- Joshua 1:7
- Judges 4:18
- Ruth 1:13
- 1 Samuel 1:16
- 2 Samuel 1:20
- 1 Kings 2:9
- 2 Kings 1:15
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.
