STRONGS NUMBER H1077

H1077. bal

בַּל‎₆₉ adverb not (Phoenician id.: e.g. CIS^{i. 165, 15} לכהן יכן בל‎ shall not be for the priest; :3, 3 עתי בל‎ = before my time) a poetic synonym of לֹא‎, of comparatively rare occurrence, Hosea 7:2; 9:16 (Qr) Isaiah 14:21; 35:9; 43:17; Proverbs 9:13; 14:7; 19:23; 22:29; 23:7, 35 (twice in verse); 24:23; 1 Chronicles 16:30 ( = Psalm 96:10), only besides, except in the passages cited, in other Psalms: often repeated in the same context, as Isaiah 26:10 (twice in verse); 26:11, 14 (twice in verse); 26:18 (twice in verse); 33:20 (twice in verse); 33:21, 23 (twice in verse); 33:24; 44:8-9, (3 t. in verse); Psalm 10:4; 10:6; 10:11; 10:15; 10:18; 16:2; 16:4 (twice in verse); 16:8; 17:3 (twice in verse); 17:5; 21:3; 21:8; 21:12; also used often with תִּמּוֺט יִמּוֺט, אֶמּוֺט,‎ 10:6; 16:8; 21:8; 30:7; 46:6; 93:1; 96:10; 104:5; Proverbs 10:30; 12:3; Job 41:15. In Isaiah 40:24 it is probably that it acquires from the context the sense of hardly: yea, hardly are they planted, yea, hardly are they sown ..., when he even bloweth upon them, and they wither; compare לֹא‎ 2 Kings 20:4. Joined anomalously with an infin., Psalm 32:9 אֵלֶיךָ קְרוֺב בַּל‎ (else) there is not coming nigh thee (i.e. else they will not approach thee).