---
title: אוֹי — woe! · The Tanakh dictionary
description: אוֹי (188), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 24 times: woe!. BDB 1906: interj. woe!. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# אוֹי

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«אוֹי» in the Tanakh dictionary: **woe!** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

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**Used:** 24 times · **Key:** 188 · **BDB:** אוֹי

### Glosses

woe! (23); woe (1)

### Meaning (OSHB)

woe! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/188/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

interj. woe! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/188/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** interj. (onomatop.; cf. ܐܘܽܝ, ܘܳܝ) woe! an impassioned expression of grief and despair: usually with dative אוֹי לִי Is 6:5 woe to me! for I am undone, so 24:16; Je 10:19; 15:10; אוֹי לָנוּ woe to us! 1 S 4:7, 8; Je 4:13; 6:4; אוֹי־נָא לִי Je 4:31; 45:3; אוֹי־נָא לָנוּ La 5:16. With the 2nd or 3rd ps. often implying a denunciation; אוֹי־לְךָ מוֹאָב Nu 21:29 (= Je 48:46) Je 13:27; Ez 16:23 repeated אוֹי אוֹי לָךְ; Is. 3:9 אוֹי לְנַפְשָׁם v 11 Ho 7:13 (‖ שֹׁד לָהֶם) 9:12. With a voc. (or implicit accus.) Ez 24:6, 9 אוֹי עִיר הַדָּמִים; absol. Nu 24:23. Used as a subst. Pr 23:29 לִמִי אוֹי (‖ לְמִי אֲבוֹי).

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Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech not compared, 23 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (2 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech not compared, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (2 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «אוֹי» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/188/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Lamentations 5:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/LAM.5.16/)

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נָֽפְלָה֙ עֲטֶ֣רֶת רֹאשֵׁ֔נוּ אֽוֹי־נָ֥א לָ֖נוּ כִּ֥י חָטָֽאנוּ׃

*Word for word:* it.has.fallen the.crown our.head our woe! please to us (dm) we.have.sinned

*JPS 1917:* The crown is fallen from our head; woe unto us! for we have sinned.

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[Isaiah 3:11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.3.11/)

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א֖וֹי לְרָשָׁ֣ע רָ֑ע כִּֽי־גְמ֥וּל יָדָ֖יו יֵעָ֥שֶׂה לּֽוֹ׃

*Word for word:* woe! to.\[the\] wicked it.will.be.bad (dm) the.dealing his.hands his it.will.be.done to him

*JPS 1917:* Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him; for the work of his hands shall be done to him.

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