If
לוּStrong’s H3863lu
Appears in 21 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Lu is the Hebrew word usually translated “if”. It appears in 21 verses of the Old Testament.
“And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”
Meaning
- If, oh that!, if only!if (unlikely condition) · if only!, oh that!, would that!
How it's translated
- if 17
- and if 3
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Genesis 4
- Numbers 3
- Judges 2
- 2 Samuel 2
- Job 2
- Isaiah 2
12 books in all.
Related words
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 23:13And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
- Genesis 30:34And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
- Genesis 50:15And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
- Numbers 14:2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
- Numbers 20:3And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
- Numbers 22:29And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.
Hebrew dictionary
לוּ lu · if
1) if, oh that!, if only! 1a) if (unlikely condition) 1b) if only!, oh that!, would that!
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “if” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
IF, verb transitive
It is used as the sign of a condition, or it introduces a conditional sentence. It is a verb, without a specified nominative. In like manner we use grant, admit, suppose. Regularly, if should be followed, as it was formerly, by the substitute or pronoun that, referring to the succeeding sentence or proposition. if that John shall arrive in season, I will send him with a message. But that is now omitted, and the subsequent sentence, proposition or affirmation may be considered as the object of the verb. Give John shall arrive; grant, suppose, admit that he shall arrive, I will send him with a message. The sense of if or give, in this use, is grant, admit, cause to be, let the fact be, let the thing take place. if then is equivalent to grant, allow, admit. 'If thou wilt, thou canst make me whole, ' that is, thou canst make me whole, give the fact, that thou wilt.
- “IF thou art the son of God, command that these stones be made bread” Matthew 4:3
- Whether or not.
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.