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# לוּ

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H3863

**if** — used 22 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

if [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3863/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

לוּ: conj. if, O that [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3863/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** and לוּא (†1 S 14:30; Is 48:18; 63:19), also לֻא (Qr לוּ), †2 S 18:12; 19:7 (Arabic لَوْ, Aramaic ܠܘܰܝ, לְוַי, Mishn. לְוַי, Assyrian lû, with opt. force, Dl§§ 78 end, 93, 145; cf. Köii. 333), conj. if, O that:— if (stating a case which has not been, or is not likely to be, realized): sq. pf. (so mostly), Dt 32:29 לו חכמו ישׂכילו זאת if they had been wise (which they are not), they would understand this; Mi 2:11 (apod. וְהָיָה); Ju 8:19; 13:23 לו חפץ י׳ להמיתנו לא לקח if J. had desired to slay us, he would not have taken, &c. 1 S 14:30 2 S 19:7. sq. impf. Ez 14:15 if I were to send, &c. (but read prob. אוֹ, cf. v 17, 19). sq. ptcp., 2 S 18:12 וְלֻא אָנֹכִי שֹׁקֵל and though I should be weighing 1000 pieces of silver upon my hand, I would not, &c. ψ 81:14–17 לו עמי שֹׁמֵעַ לי if my people were hearkening to me, … quickly would I bow down, &c. sq. יֵשׁ Job 16:4.—With the apod. omitted, Gn 50:15 לוּ יִשְׁמְמֵנוּ if Joseph were to hate us (how should we fare then?). If only …! i.e. O that! would that! (cf. εἰ γάρ, εἴθε) usually sq. perf., as Nu 14:2(×2) לוּ מַתְנוּ if only we had died in the land of Egypt! 20:3; Jos 7:7 וְלוּ הוֹאַלְנוּ וַנֵּשֶׁב Is 48:18; 63:19; sq. יֵשׁ Nu 22:29; sq. impf. Gn 17:18 לו יחיה O that Ishmael might live before thee! Jb 6:2; sq. juss. Gn 30:34 לו יהי כדברך; sq. imv. 23:13 אם אתה לוּ שׁמעני if thou—O that thou wouldst hear me! (+ prob. v 5 לאמר ׃ לוּ שׁמעני for לאמר לוֹ ׃ שׁ׳, and similarly v 15).—Read also prob. לֻא for Mas. לֹא Ju 21:22 (with כִּי עַתָּה for כָּעֵת), 1 S 13:13; 20:14(×2) Jb 9:33 (sq. יֵשׁ); and perhaps 14:4 (Ew Kö).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech not compared, 21 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (2 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech not compared, 0 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: if (22).

## In the verses

[Deuteronomy 32:29](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.32.29/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/DEU.32.29/#tree)

ל֥וּ חָכְמ֖וּ יַשְׂכִּ֣ילוּ זֹ֑את יָבִ֖ינוּ לְאַחֲרִיתָֽם׃

*Word for word:* if they.were.wise they.will.comprehend this they.will.understand (to) end their

*JPS 1917:* If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end.

[Genesis 30:34](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.30.34/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.30.34/#tree)

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לָבָ֖ן הֵ֑ן ל֖וּ יְהִ֥י כִדְבָרֶֽךָ׃

*Word for word:* and he.said Laban there! if let.it.be according to your.word

*JPS 1917:* And Laban said: 'Behold, would it might be according to thy word.'

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3863.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3863/): 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).