Definition

oh that!; with leave, or if it please

Etymology

perhaps from H1158 (בָּעָה) (in the sense of asking); properly, a request; used only adverbially (always with 'my Lord');

Where the KJV renders it

• alas
• O
• oh

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.