Strong's Lexicon

H3884

H3884 — לוּלֵא לוּלֵי

Hebrew / Aramaic entry for Bible study and original-language reference.

HebrewluwleconditionalOccurrences: 14TWOT: 1085a

Definition / Gloss

Strong's Number:	H3884
Word:	לוּלֵא לוּלֵי
Part of Speech:	conditional
Etymology:	from H3863 and H3808
Language:	Hebrew
Occurrences:	14
Transliteration:	luwle
Phonetic Spelling/Pronunciation:	loo-lay' (or luwley {loo lay'}) cond.
Meaning:	1. if not
KJV Renderings:	except, had not, if (...not), unless, were it not that.

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Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced

BDB4346

לוּלֵא Gen 43:10; Judg 14:18; 2Sam 2:27; Ps 27:13, elsewhere לוּלֵי₁₀ if not, unless (from לוּ if, and לֵא, by dissimilation (Kö^{ii.
236, 489}) for לֹא not; compare Arabic [untranscribed source text 2771]), the negative of לוּ, and used similarly: —

a. followed by perfect, Judg 14:18 לולא חרשׁתם ֗֗֗ לא מצאתם unless ye had ploughed with my heifer, ye would not have found out my riddle, 1Sam 25:34 (second כי resumptive: כִּי 1.d.), Ps 106:23 with apod, introd. by כִּי עַתָּה Gen 31:42 ; Gen 43:10 by אָז 2Sam 2:27 (כי resumptive); by כִּמְעַט Isa 1:9 with an aposiop. Ps 27:13 if I had not believed …!

b. followed by imperfect Deut 32:27 אמרתי ֗֗֗ לולי אגור I should have said, &c . . . . except I dreaded, &c.

c. followed by participle, 2Kgs 3:14.

d. without a verb, Ps 94:17 (apodosis כמעט), Ps 119:92 (apodosis אָז). In the later language, Ps 124:1; Ps 124:2 -שֶׁ ׳ לוּלֵי י (apodosis אֲזַי except that … (compare Aramaic, [untranscribed source text 2772] Ps 106:23 , אִילּוּלֵי ֗֗֗ דִּי Ps 27:13 ᵑ7 ). — Read also לוּלֵי for אוּלַי in Num 22:33 (apodosis כִּי עַתָּה). See further on לוּ and לוּלֵא Dr^{§§ 139-145} Kö^{iii. 487f; 565}.

Other Resources

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke

Englishman's Hebrew Concordance

לולי (loo-l)

Genesis 43:10

KJV: For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.this: or, twice by this

EHCC: except we had lingered,

Judges 14:18

KJV: And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

EHCC: If ye had not plowed with my heifer,

2 Samuel 2:27

KJV: And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother.in the…: Heb. from the morninggone…: or, gone away

EHCC: unless thou halst ken,

Psalms 27:13

KJV: I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

EHCC: (1 had fainted), ‘wrless 1 had believed