אִם conjunction (= Aramaic 
NAe   if [and in 
HAe  , 
אֶלָּא = 
H NAe   if not, except], Arabic 
إِنْ if [and in 
إِلاَّ= 
إِنْ لاَ if not, except], Ethiopic 
እመ፡ (
ěmma) 
if = 
מָה + 
אִם (
مَا + 
إِنْ) [and in 
አላ፡ (
allâ) 
if not, but], Assyrian 
umma; also in Arabic 
أَمْ 'An?' = 
أَإِمْ, compare 
הַאִם : see Nö
M p. 208, ZMG 1886, p. 739; W
AG i. § 367 e) 
** Onk Jon אִם
Onk Jon אִם, 
 Hag אין
Hag אין. 
    1. hypothetical particle if.
    a. construction (see more fully Dr§ 136-138, 143 FriedrichDie Hebr. Condit. sätze 1884):
    (1) with imperfect (continued by perfects & waw consecutive; apodosis usually begins with perfect & waw consecutive or bare imperfect; or, if necessary, with imperative or jussive)
    (b) of 
past time (rare, but classical): 
Genesis 31:8 אִם יאֹמַר if everhe said... 
וְיָָֽלְדִוּ then they 
used to bear, etc., 
Exodus 40:37; & in the protestations 
Job 31:7, 
13, 
16, 
25 etc. (alternating with pff., see below, & with jussives in apodosis)
 
    (c) assuming a purely imaginary case (with imperfect in both clauses, like the double optative in Greek), 
if, though: Genesis 13:16 so that 
אִם־יוּכַל if a man 
were able to number the stars, thy seed also 
יִמָּנֶה might be numbered, 
Numbers 22:18; 
Isaiah 1:18 כַּשָּׁנִים יַלְבִּינוּ אִם־יִהְיוּ ח׳ though your sins 
were as scarlet, they 
should become white as snow, 
Amos 9:2-4 אִם־יַחְתְּרוּ though they 
were to dig into Sheôl, from thence 
תִּקָּחֵם would my hand fetch them, 
Psalm 27:3; 
Psalm 139:8 +.
 
    (3) with perfect.
    (b) of past time, whether
    (α) in actual fact, or
    (β) in an assumed case (the perfect is here continued by the imperfect and waw consecutive; apodosis begins as before).
    (c) with bare perfect in apodosis, in sense of 
If... 
had..., only 
Deuteronomy 32:30 אִם־לֹא כִּי were it 
not that..., 
Psalm 73:15. (
לוּ is more usual in such cases.)
 
    b. Special uses:
    (4) Nearly = when — with the perfect:
    c. Compounded with other particles: —
    (γ) כִּי־אִם, which see.
    (
ε) 
רַק אִם if only (see below 
רַק). 
אִם־לֹא in 
Ezekiel 3:6b is very difficult. The Vrss render 
If I had sent, etc., implying 
לֻא for 
אִם־לֹא (for Ew's 
אִם־לֻא = 
אִלּוּ, which see, is precarious): Ges Hi Co 'but (
אִם־לֹא after a negative, compare above 
Genesis 24:38; 
Psalm 131:2) unto 
them (Israel) have I sent thee: 
they can understand thee' (but 
understand is a dubious rendering of 
שָׁמַע אֶל).
    2. Interrogative particle
    a. in direct question:
    (b) more frequently in disjunctive interrogation:
    b. in oblique interrogation, if, whether:
    c. compounded with 
הֲ, 
הַאִם † 
Numbers 17:28 [
Numbers 17:13] 
הַאִם תַּמְנוּ לִגְוֺעַ probably an emphatic 
Num? Shall we ever have finished dying? 
Job 6:13 difficult: perhaps 
Is it that my help is not in me? (a forcible means of expressing that that which might be thought impossible is nevertheless the case); Hi as an aposiop., If my help is not in me (am I still to wait) ? (The view that 
הַאִם = 
הֲלֹא nonne? is inconsistent with the fact that 
אִם in a question has regularly the force of 
Num?)
 
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