---
title: אִי — alas! · The Tanakh dictionary
description: אִי (337), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 2 times: alas!. BDB 1906: interj. alas. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# אִי

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«אִי» in the Tanakh dictionary: **alas!** — 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:** 2 times · **Key:** 337 · **BDB:** אִי³

### Glosses

woe! (2)

### Meaning (OSHB)

alas! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/337/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

interj. alas [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/337/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** interj. (so in Rabb., v. DeKoh 197 WrEccl. 490) alas! (late) Ec 4:10 אִי לוֹ (written in MT as one word) alas for him (Ew§ 309 c), the one, who falleth, etc. (i.e. who falleth alone) 10:16.

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Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech not compared, 2 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (6 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech not compared, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (5 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «אִי» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/337/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Ecclesiastes 10:16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.10.16/)

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אִֽי־לָ֣ךְ אֶ֔רֶץ שֶׁמַּלְכֵּ֖ךְ נָ֑עַר וְשָׂרַ֖יִךְ בַּבֹּ֥קֶר יֹאכֵֽלוּ׃

*Word for word:* woe! to you O.land which king your \[is\].a.youth and princes your in the morning they.eat

*JPS 1917:* Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a boy, and thy princes feast in the morning!

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[Ecclesiastes 4:10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.4.10/)

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כִּ֣י אִם־יִפֹּ֔לוּ הָאֶחָ֖ד יָקִ֣ים אֶת־חֲבֵר֑וֹ וְאִ֣יל֗וֹ הָֽאֶחָד֙ שֶׁיִּפּ֔וֹל וְאֵ֥ין שֵׁנִ֖י לַהֲקִימֽוֹ׃

*Word for word:* (dm) if they.will.fall.down the one he.will.raise (et) companion his and woe! to him the.one \[person\] who he.will.fall.down and there.\[is\].not a.second.\[person\] to raise him

*JPS 1917:* For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.

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