בְּלִי

Genesis 31:20 בְּלִי֙ not

Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.

Exodus 14:11 הַֽמִבְּלִ֤י ¿ because not

They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

Here: Three parts make one word: the question marker *ha-*, *min* ("from, because of") and *bəlî* ("lack, without"). Together: "Is it for lack of…?" It opens a sarcastic question that expects the answer "Of course not."

Deuteronomy 4:42 בִּבְלִי־ with no

to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:

Deuteronomy 9:28 מִבְּלִי֙ because not

Otherwise, those in the land from which You brought us out will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

Deuteronomy 19:4 בִּבְלִי־ with not

Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

Deuteronomy 28:55 מִבְּלִ֥י because not

refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates.

Joshua 20:3 בִּבְלִי־ with not

so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

Here: 'In the absence of'. Combined with the preposition b-, it forms the phrase 'without knowledge'.

Joshua 20:5 בִבְלִי־ with not

Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the manslayer into his hand, because that man killed his neighbor accidentally without prior malice.

Here: 'In lack of' or 'without'. It makes the next word a negative: without knowing.

2 Samuel 1:21 בְּלִ֖י not

O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.

Here: A poetic word of absence, with no tense of its own. English "no longer," "as though not" and "was not" are all interpretations of this bare "without."

2 Kings 1:3 הַֽמִבְּלִ֤י ¿ becasue not

But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’

Here: A question marker (ha-) plus 'from' (mi-) plus 'lack' (beli): 'Is it for want of…?' This sarcastic question form is also used in Exod 14:11, 'Was it for lack of graves in Egypt…?'

2 Kings 1:6 הַֽמִבְּלִ֤י ¿ because not

They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”

2 Kings 1:16 הַֽמִבְּלִ֤י ¿ because not

And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”

Job 4:11 מִבְּלִי־ because not

The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

Job 4:20 מִבְּלִ֥י because not

They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.

Job 6:6 מִבְּלִי־ because not

Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?

Job 8:11 בְלִי־ not

Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

Job 18:15 מִבְּלִי because not

Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.

Job 24:7 מִבְּלִ֣י because not

Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.

Job 24:8 וּֽמִבְּלִ֥י and because not

Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.

Job 24:10 בְּלִ֣י not

Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

Job 26:7 בְּלִי־ not

He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.

Here: A negative meaning "without, lack of". Joined to the next word, it forms the expression traditionally read as one word, bəlîmāh, "nothing at all".

Job 30:8 בְלִי־ not

A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.

Job 31:19 מִבְּלִ֣י because not

if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

Job 31:39 בְלִי־ not

if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

Job 33:9 בְּֽלִ֫י not

‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.

Job 34:6 בְלִי־ not

Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

Job 35:16 בִּבְלִי־ with not

So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

Job 36:12 כִּבְלִי־ like not

But if they do not obey, then they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

Job 38:2 בְּֽלִי־ not

“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?

Here: A poetic negative meaning 'with no ___.' It describes the words as empty of something. It does not call them false or wicked.

Job 38:41 לִבְלִי־ for not

Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

Here: 'For lack of'. The word stresses that there is nothing there at all.

Job 39:16 בְּלִי־ not

She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain.

Job 41:26 בְּלִ֣י not

The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.

Job 41:33 לִבְלִי־ for not

Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature devoid of fear!

Job 42:3 בְּֽלִ֫י not

You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

Here: Marks the absence of something: Job's talk ran on without the knowledge it needed.

Psalm 19:3 בְּ֝לִ֗י not

Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard,

Here: A negative used in poetry, here in front of a participle: 'not-heard', 'without being heard'. It describes the voice as unheard. It does not mean 'where … not'.

Psalm 59:4 בְּֽלִי־ not

For no fault of my own, they move swiftly to attack me. Arise to help me, and take notice.

Psalm 63:1 בְּלִי־ not

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.

Here: A word that means 'absence of'. It completes the picture of a land with no water.

Psalm 72:7 בְּלִ֥י not

May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound until the moon is no more.

Here: Negates the noun after it: "until there is no moon". Together with "until", it makes an idiom meaning "for as long as the moon exists", that is, for ever in practice.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 מִבְּלִ֞י because not

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

Here: This begins a phrase found only here: mibbeli 'asher lo', literally 'from-lack-of that not'. Most read it as 'yet so that … not' or 'without (humans) being able to'. It introduces the limit on the 'olam-sense.

Isaiah 5:13 מִבְּלִי־ because not

Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

Here: Literally 'from without'. It usually gives a cause, 'because there is no…'. It can also describe how something happens, 'without knowing it'. Here it most likely gives the cause, but the other reading is possible (see debates).

Isaiah 5:14 לִבְלִי־ to not

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers!

Here: 'To the point of having no …'. Together with the next word it means 'beyond any limit.'

Isaiah 14:6 בְּלִ֥י [which] not

It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

Isaiah 28:8 בְּלִ֖י not

For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.

Isaiah 32:10 בְּלִ֥י not

In a little more than a year you will tremble, O secure ones. For the grape harvest will fail and the fruit harvest will not arrive.

Isaiah 38:17 בְּלִ֔י destruction

Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Here: Qualifies the pit as a place of nothing: "the pit of nothingness / oblivion / destruction." Death is pictured as wasting away into non-being.

Jeremiah 2:15 מִבְּלִ֥י because not

The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

Here: 'From lack of', made of 'from' (מִן) and 'without' (בְּלִי). The cities are ruined to the point of having no one left in them. It may also suggest that they are left ruined because nobody remains to rebuild.

Jeremiah 9:10 מִבְּלִי־ because not

I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.

Here: 'So that there is no ...': the ruin leaves the land empty.

Jeremiah 9:11 מִבְּלִ֖י because not

“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

Here: 'For lack of' or 'so that there is no'. The same phrase appears in 9:10 ('no one passes through') and 9:12. The three uses tie the passage together around the idea of emptiness.

Jeremiah 9:12 מִבְּלִ֖י because not

Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it?

Here: 'With no…' or 'so that there is no…'. It states the result: the land is empty.

Lamentations 1:4 מִבְּלִי֙ because not

The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.

Here: "For want of": the roads mourn because something is missing, namely the crowds.

Ezekiel 14:15 מִבְּלִ֣י because not

Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,

Ezekiel 34:5 מִבְּלִ֣י because not

They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts.

Here: Literally "from-without": "because of the absence of." It names the cause of the scattering. The shepherds still existed (vv. 2–4); what was missing was anyone actually doing a shepherd's work.

Hosea 4:6 מִבְּלִ֣י because not

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

Here: 'From the lack of' or 'for want of.' It gives the cause: the people are ruined because something is missing.

Hosea 7:8 בְּלִ֥י not

Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is an unturned cake.

Here: A negative meaning 'without' or 'lacking.' Here it describes the cake: one that never got turned.

Hosea 8:7 בְּלִ֣י not

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

Here: A poetic word for "not." The growth will *not* produce.

Zephaniah 3:6 מִבְּלִ֣י מִבְּלִי־ because not

“I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant.

Here: "For lack of," or "so that there is no." It is a word of absence and sets up the first of three stacked negatives in the verse.

Malachi 3:10 בְּלִי־ not

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

Here: Negates the next word: 'without / no more.'