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# בִּי

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H994

**I pray** — used 12 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

I pray [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/994/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

בִּי: part. of entreaty pray [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/994/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** part. of entreaty, craving permission to address a superior, always foll. by אֲדֹנִי (or אֲדֹנָי), and always (except Jos 7:8) at the beginning of a speech, I pray, excuse me—(not improb. from √ ביי; so that בִּי אֲדֹנִי will be literally a supplication of (i.e. to) my lord! cf. Wetzst l.c., who compares the Arabic دَخْلُ سَيِّدَى lit. a prayer to my lord! a standing formula = Pray, excuse me, used exactly as בִּי אֲדֹנִי. According to others contr. from בְּעִי, from בָּעָה to ask, and so lit. a petition! cf. Aramaic בְּבָעוּ, ܒܒܳܥܽܘ (e.g. Gn 19:18 𝔗, Nu 12:13 𝔖); but ע is not often elided in Heb.)—Gn 44:18 בִּי אֲדֹנִי יְדַבֶּר־נָא I pray, my lord, let thy servant speak, etc.; so Nu 12:11 Ju 6:13 1 S 1:26 1 K 3:17, 26, and foll. by a pl. subj. Gn 43:20 בִּי א׳ יָרֹד יָרַדְנוּ Oh, my lord, we came down, etc.; בִּי אֲדֹנָי (to God) Ex 4:10, 13 Jos 7:8 Ju 6:15; 13:8 (𝔊 in Pent. and Jos. δέομαι, δεόμεθα: in other books absurdly ἐν ἐμοί).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech not compared, 12 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (1 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech not compared, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (1 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: pardon me (11); pardon us (1).

## In the verses

[Exodus 4:13](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.13/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.4.13/#tree)

וַיֹּ֖אמֶר בִּ֣יּ אֲדֹנָ֑י שְֽׁלַֽח־נָ֖א בְּיַד־תִּשְׁלָֽח׃

*Word for word:* and he.said pardon.me Lord my send please by the.hand of.\[whomever\].you.will.send

*JPS 1917:* And he said: 'Oh Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send.'

[Genesis 43:20](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.43.20/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.43.20/#tree)

וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ בִּ֣י אֲדֹנִ֑י יָרֹ֥ד יָרַ֛דְנוּ בַּתְּחִלָּ֖ה לִשְׁבָּר־אֹֽכֶל׃

*Word for word:* and they.said pardon.us my.lord my indeed.(come.down) we.came.down at the beginning to buy food

*JPS 1917:* and said: 'Oh my lord, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/994.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/994/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).