Bible Lexicons

אַל a word which has a negative power like the kindred לֹא, לָא, לַי, לֵא, לֵי (comp. under the root אוּן p. 21 ).

(1) subst. nothing; Job 24:25, “who shall bring my speech to nothing?”

(2) adv. [referred in Ges. corr. to its use as a conj.] of negation, i.q. μὴ, ne.

(a) put absol. like the Gr.μὴ for μὴ τοῦτο γένηται (Arist. Acharn. 458); Germ. nicht doch, nicht alfo; nay! not so! Ruth 1:13, אַל בִּנֹתַי “nay! my daughters (do not so);” nicht, fo meine Töchter. 2 Kings 3:13; Genesis 19:18, אַל־נָא אֲדֹנָי.

(b) it has sometimes simply a negative power, but like the Gr. νὴ, only in what are called subjective propositions. Thus it is only put with the future, and differs in this respect from לֹא. 2 Kings 6:27, אַל־יוֹשִׁיעֵךְ יְהֹוָה מֵאַיִן אוֹשִׁיעֵךְ “(if) Jehovah help thee not, how can I help thee?” (לֹא יוֹשִׁיעֵךְ must be rendered, “God will not help thee.” Well rendered by LXX. μή σε σώσαι Κύριος, “I fear the Lord will not help thee”). Genesis 21:16, אַל־אֶרְאֶה ich könnte nicht mit anfehn, “I cannot look on.” Psalms 50:3, יָבֹא אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְאַל־יֶתֱרַשׁ “Our God will come, and will not keep silence,” prop. und er möchte mohl nicht fchweigen, he may be expected not to keep silence. Psalms 34:6, 41:3 Proverbs 3:25, אַל־תִּירָא “thou shalt not fear,” there shah be no cause that thou shouldest fear, du brauchft dich nicht zu fürchten. Job 5:22; Genesis 49:6, “into their counsel אַל־תָּבֹא נַפְשִׁי my soul will not enter,” in folchen Rath mürbe nie meine Seele willigen. Compare Song of Solomon 7:3. Sometimes the verb is omitted, Amos 5:14, “seek good, וְאַל רַע and (seek) not evil.” 2 Samuel 1:21, אַל־טַל וְאַל־מָטָר עֲלֵיבֶם “(let there) not (be) dew nor rain upon you.” Proverbs 12:28, where it should be rendered, “the way of righteousness (giveth) life, and the right way אַל־מָוֶת (giveth) not death,” or calamity; or, “a right way never leads to death.”

(3) By far the most frequently it is a conj. of prohibiting, dehorting, deprecating, wishing that anything be not done. Always joined to a future, when it can be, apocopated; when in the first person, paragogic. Exodus 16:29, אַל־יֵצֵא אִישׁ “let not any one go out;” 1 Samuel 26:20. In the second person, Genesis 22:12, אַל־תִּשְׁלַח יָֽדְךָ “stretch not forth thy hand.” אַל־תִּירָאוּ “fear ye not,” Genesis 43:23; Jeremiah 7:4. In the first, Psalms 25:2, אַל־אֵבוֹשָׁה “let me not be ashamed!” sc. may God so grant that I be not ashamed. It is rarely separated from the verb, Psalms 6:2, אַל־בְּאַפְּךָ תוֹכִיחֵנִי “not in thy wrath chasten me.” Also used in imprecation, Genesis 49:4, אַל־תּוֹתַר “excel thou not,” du follft keinen Vorzug haben. In petitions there is added ·נָא Genesis 13:8, אַל־נָא תְהִי “let there not be now.” Genesis 18:3, 30 Genesis 18:30, 32 Genesis 18:32. (לֹא with a future is strongly prohibitory; פֶּן lest perhaps, is more mildly dissuasive.)

(4) used interrogatively, like Gr. μή (see Passow, Lex. Gr.h.v. litt. C. [“Butman Gr. Gram. § 148, 5.”]), for num, whether; used when a negative reply is expected. Once found in this sense, 1 Samuel 27:10, אַל־פְּשַׁטְתֶּם הַיוֹם ihr feid doch nicht ausgezogen in diefer Zeit? “ye have not then made any excursion to-day?” Here the answer is, “No, we have not gone out, for the Hebrews, my countrymen, live all around.” [?] From this stock is derived אֱלִיל; whether the verb אַלַל was ever used is uncertain.

אַל Ch. i.q. Heb. No. 3; but only in the Biblical Chaldee. Daniel 2:24, 4:16 5:10.

II. אַל the Arabic article i.q. Heb. הַל, prefixed also to some Hebrew words in the Old Test., which are either of Arabian origin, or, at least, although foreign, have come into the Hebrew from the Arabic, see אַלְמוֹדָד, אַלְקוּם, אֶלְגָּבִישׁ, אַלְמֻגִּים. Cognate is the pron. pers. pl. אֵל, אֵלֶּה, which see.