בַּל

בַּל₆₉ adverb not (Phoenician id.: e.g. CIS^{i. 165, 15} בל יכן לכהן shall not be for the priest; :3, 3 בל עתי = before my time) a poetic synonym of לֹא, of comparatively rare occurrence, Hos 7,2; Hos 9,16 (Qr) Es 14,21; Es 35,9; Es 43,17; Ord 9,13; Ord 14,7; Ord 19,23; Ord 22,29; Ord 23,7; Ord 23,35 (twice in verse); Ord 24,23; 1 Kron 16,30 ( = Sl 96,10), only besides, except in the passages cited, in other Psalms: often repeated in the same context, as Es 26,10 (twice in verse); Es 26,11; Es 26,14 (twice in verse); Es 26,18 (twice in verse); Es 33,20 (twice in verse); Es 33,21; Es 33,23 (twice in verse); Es 33,24; Es 44,8; Es 44,9 (3 t. in verse); Sl 10,4; Sl 10,6; Sl 10,11; Sl 10,15; Sl 10,18; Sl 16,2; Sl 16,4 (twice in verse); Sl 16,8; Sl 17,3 (twice in verse); Sl 17,5; Sl 21,3; Sl 21,8; Sl 21,12 also used often with אֶמּוֺט, יִמּוֺט, תִּמּוֺט Sl 10,6; Sl 16,8; Sl 21,8; Sl 30,7; Sl 46,6; Sl 93,1; Sl 96,10; Sl 104,5; Ord 10,30; Ord 12,3; Job 41,15. In Es 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 Kong 20,4. Joined anomalously with an infin., Sl 32,9 בַּל קְרוֺב אֵלֶיךָ (else) there is not coming nigh thee (i.e. else they will not approach thee).