לוּאlûwʼ
לֻא: if, see לוּ (2 Samuel 18:12)
Pronunciation: loo · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H3863
Meanings
לוּ: if, O that
1. if, (stating a case which has not been, or is not likely to be, realized)
a. if (Deuteronomy 32:29; Micah 2:11; Judges 8:19)
b. if (Ezekiel 14:15; Ezekiel 14:17; Ezekiel 14:19)
c. though, if (2 Samuel 18:12; Psalms 81:14)
d. if (Job 16:4; Genesis 50:15)
2. If only …!, i.e. O that! would that! (Numbers 14:2; Numbers 20:3; Joshua 7:7)
Same root
Where it appears
Appears 22 times in the Bible.
- Genesis 17:18 So Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!”
- Genesis 23:13 and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. “No, listen to me. I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.”
- Genesis 30:34 “All right,” Laban replied. “It will be as you say.”
- Genesis 50:15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said.
- Numbers 14:2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained.
- Numbers 20:3 The people blamed Moses and said, “If only we had died in the Lord’s presence with our brothers!
Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).