Help QuickNav Adv. Options
NIV

NIV

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Strong's
Red Letter
The Blue Letter Bible

Lexicon :: Strong's H994 - bî

Choose a new font size and typeface
בִּי
Transliteration
bî
Pronunciation
bee
Listen
Part of Speech
part of entreaty
Root Word (Etymology)
Perhaps from בָּעָה (H1158) (sense of asking)
Dictionary Aids

TWOT Reference: 238a

Strong’s Definitions

בִּי bîy, bee; perhaps from H1158 (in the sense of asking); properly, a request; used only adverbially (always with 'my Lord'); oh that!; with leave, or if it please:—alas, O, oh.

KJV Translation Count — Total: 12x

The KJV translates Strong's H994 in the following manner: O (7x), Oh (4x), alas (1x).

KJV Translation Count — Total: 12x
The KJV translates Strong's H994 in the following manner: O (7x), Oh (4x), alas (1x).

  1. if it please, pray excuse me, excuse me please

    1. used to introduce an entreaty or request

Strong’s Definitions [?](Strong’s Definitions Legend)
בִּי bîy, bee; perhaps from H1158 (in the sense of asking); properly, a request; used only adverbially (always with 'my Lord'); oh that!; with leave, or if it please:—alas, O, oh.
STRONGS H994: Abbreviations
† בִּי particle of entreaty, craving permission to address a superior, always followed by אֲדֹנִי (or אֲדֹנָי), and always (except Joshua 7:8) at the beginning of a speech, I pray, excuse me — (not improbable from √ ביי; so that בִּי אֲדֹנִי will be literally a supplication of (i.e. to my lord! compare Wetzst l.c., who compares the Arabic bdb010605 literally a prayer to my lord! a standing formula = Pray, excuse me, used exactly as בֹּי אֲדֹנִי. According to other contracted from בְּעִי, from בָּעָה to ask, and so literally a petition! compare Aramaic בְּבָעוּ, bdb010606 (e.g. Genesis 19:18 Targum, Numbers 12:13 Syriac Version); but ע is not often elided in Hebrew) — Genesis 44:18 בִּי אֲדֹנִי יְדַבֶּרנָֿא I pray, my lord, let thy servant speak, etc.; so Numbers 12:11; Judges 6:13; 1 Samuel 1:26; 1 Kings 3:17, 26, and following by a plural subject Genesis 43:20 יָרֹד יָרַדְנוּ בִּי א׳ Oh, my lord, we came down, etc.; בִּי אֲדֹנָי (to God) Exodus 4:10, 13; Joshua 7:8; Judges 6:15; Judges 13:8 (Greek Version of the LXX in Pentateuch and Joshua δέομαι, δεόμεθα: in other books absurdly ἐν ἐμοί).
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Unabridged, Electronic Database.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used by permission. BibleSoft.com

BLB Scripture Index of Brown-Driver-Briggs

Genesis

19:18; 43:20; 44:18

Exodus

4:10; 4:13

Numbers

12:11; 12:13

Joshua

7:8; 7:8

Judges

6:13; 6:15; 13:8

1 Samuel

1:26

1 Kings

3:17; 3:26

H994

Read the Full Entry

Word / Phrase / Strong's Search

Strong's Number H994 matches the Hebrew בִּי (bî),
which occurs 12 times in 12 verses in the WLC Hebrew.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Gen 43:20

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 43:20 - “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Gen 44:18

Unchecked Copy BoxGen 44:18 - Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Exo 4:10

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 4:10 - Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Exo 4:13

Unchecked Copy BoxExo 4:13 - But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Num 12:11

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 12:11 - and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Jos 7:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJos 7:8 - Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 6:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 6:13 - “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 6:15

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 6:15 - “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box Jdg 13:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJdg 13:8 - Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 1:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 1:26 - and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:17 - One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me.

Tools

Unchecked Copy Box 1Ki 3:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Ki 3:26 - The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
BLB Searches
Search the Bible
NIV
  [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
NIV
Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan

Translations available: King James Version, New King James Version, New Living Translation, New International Version, English Standard Version, Christian Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible 2020, New American Standard Bible 1995, Legacy Standard Bible 2021, New English Translation, Revised Standard Version, American Standard Version, Young's Literal Translation, Darby Translation, Webster's Bible, Hebrew Names Version, Reina-Valera 1960, Latin Vulgate, Westminster Leningrad Codex, Septuagint, Morphological Greek New Testament, and Textus Receptus.