---
title: לוּלֵא — if not · The Tanakh dictionary
description: לוּלֵא (3884), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 14 times: if not. BDB 1906: if not, unless. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3884.html)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/) / [ל](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/1500.md)‎ / לוּלֵא‎

<!-- .hw dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
# לוּלֵא

<!-- .meta -->
«לוּלֵא» in the Tanakh dictionary: **if not** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Used:** 14 times · **Key:** 3884 · **BDB:** לוּלֵא

### Glosses

if.not (14)

### Meaning (OSHB)

if not [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3884/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

if not, unless [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3884/#m2)

<!-- fold -->
**The whole BDB entry:** Gn 43:10; Ju 14:18; 2 S 2:27; ψ 27:13, elsewhere לוּלֵי10 if not, unless (from לוּ if, and לֵא, by dissim. (Köii 236, 489) for לֹא not; cf. Arabic لَوْلَا ), the neg. of לוּ, and used similarly:— sq. pf., Ju 14:18 לולא חרשׁתם … לא מצאתם unless ye had ploughed with my heifer, ye would not have found out my riddle, 1 S 25:34 (second כי resumptive: כִּי 1 d), ψ 106:23; with apod. introd. by כִּי עַתָּה Gn 31:42; 43:10; by אָז 2 S 2:27 (כי resumptive); by כִּמְעַט Is 1:9; with an aposiop. ψ 27:13 if I had not believed …! sq. impf. Dt 32:27 אמרתי … לולי אגור I should have said, \&c. … except I dreaded, \&i\>c. sq. ptcp., 2 K 3:14. without a verb, ψ 94:17 (apod. כמעט), 119:92 (apod. אָז). In the later language, ψ 124:1, 2 לוּלֵי י׳ שֶׁ- (apod. אֲזַי) except that … (cf. Aramaic ܕ ? … ܐܶܠܘܽ ܠܴܐ ψ 106:23, אִילּוּלֵי … דִּי ψ 27:13 𝔗).—Read also לוּלֵי for אוּלַי in Nu 22:33 (apod. כִּי עַתָּה). See further on לוּ and לוּלֵא Dr§§ 139–145 Köiii. 487 f. 565.

<!-- .note -->
Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech not compared, 14 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 (1 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «לוּלֵא» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3884/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

<!-- div verse -->

<!-- .ref -->
[Genesis 43:10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/GEN.43.10/)

<!-- .vt dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
כִּ֖י לוּלֵ֣א הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְנוּ כִּֽי־עַתָּ֥ה שַׁ֖בְנוּ זֶ֥ה פַעֲמָֽיִם׃

*Word for word:* (dm) if.not we.had.delayed (dm) now we.have.returned this two.times

*JPS 1917:* For except we had lingered, surely we had now returned a second time.'

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div verse -->

<!-- .ref -->
[Psalms 27:13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.27.13/)

<!-- .vt dir=rtl lang=hbo -->
לׅׄוּלֵׅׄ֗אׅׄהֶ֭אֱמַנְתִּי לִרְא֥וֹת בְּֽטוּב־יְהוָ֗ה בְּאֶ֣רֶץ חַיִּֽים׃

*Word for word:* if.not I.had.believed to look on the.goodness of.Yahweh in.\[the\] land of.living.\[people\]

*JPS 1917:* If I had not believed to look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! —

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [לוּל](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3883.md)
- next →: [לוּן](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3885.md)
- ↑ back to [ל](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/1500.md)