Definition

properly, a failure of, i.e. (used only as a negative particle, usually with a prepositional prefix) not, except, without, unless, besides, because not, until, etc.

Etymology

constructive feminine of H1086 (בָּלָה) (equivalent to H1097 (בְּלִי));

Where the KJV renders it

• because un(satiable)
• beside
• but
• continual
• except
• from
• lest
• neither
• no more
• none
• not
• nothing
• save
• that no
• without

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.