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Word study

Hebrew

Not

אַלStrong’s H0408

al

Appears in 570 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Al is the Hebrew word usually translated “may not”, “do not” and “not”. It appears in 570 verses of the Old Testament.

“O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.”
Daniel 9:19 KJV
Meaning
  1. Not, no, nor, neither, nothing (as wish or preference)do not, let not (with a verb) · let there not be (with a verb understood) · not, no (with substantive) · nothing (as substantive)
How it's translated
  • may not 565
  • and may not 149
  • do not 5
  • not 3
  • into nothing 1
  • mau not 1

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Psalms 89
  • Proverbs 74
  • Jeremiah 67
  • Isaiah 36
  • Genesis 34
  • 1 Samuel 24

37 books in all.

Explore in Scripture
All 570 verses, by book
1 Chronicles 4
16:2221:1322:1328:20
Ezra 1
9:12
Esther 3
4:134:166:10
Song of Solomon 2
1:67:2
Lamentations 4
2:183:563:574:15
Hosea 3
4:44:159:1
Amos 2
5:55:14
Obadiah 3
1:121:131:14
Jonah 2
1:143:7
Zephaniah 1
3:16
Haggai 1
2:5
Malachi 1
2:15
Hebrew dictionary

אַל al · not

1) not, no, nor, neither, nothing (as wish or preference) 1a) do not, let not (with a verb) 1b) let there not be (with a verb understood) 1c) not, no (with substantive) 1d) nothing (as substantive) Aramaic equivalent: al (אַל "not" H0409)

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “not” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

NOT, adverb

[See Naught.]

  1. A word that expreses negation, denial or refusal; as, he will no go; will you remain? I will not In the first member of a sentence, it may be followed by nor or neither; as not for a price nor reward; I was not in sfety, neither had I rest.
  2. With the substantive verb in the following phrase, it denies being, or denotes extinction of existence.“Thine eyes are open upon me, and I am not” Job 14:3

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.