Lexical Definition

‎בַּל‎ bal (bal) not ^H:Neg
from ‎בָּלָה‎

lest, neither, no, none (that...), not (any), nothing.

• properly, a failure
• by implication nothing
• usually (adverb) not at all
• also lest

1) not, hardly, else

Brown-Driver-Briggs

‎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) Isa 14:21; Isa 35:9; Isa 43:17; Prov 9:13; Prov 14:7; Prov 19:23; Prov 22:29; Prov 23:7; Prov 23:35 (twice in verse); Prov 24:23; 1Chr 16:30 ( = Ps 96:10), only besides, except in the passages cited, in other Psalms: often repeated in the same context, as Isa 26:10 (twice in verse); Isa 26:11; Isa 26:14 (twice in verse); Isa 26:18 (twice in verse); Isa 33:20 (twice in verse); Isa 33:21; Isa 33:23 (twice in verse); Isa 33:24; Isa 44:8; Isa 44:9 (3 t. in verse); Ps 10:4; Ps 10:6; Ps 10:11; Ps 10:15; Ps 10:18; Ps 16:2; Ps 16:4 (twice in verse); Ps 16:8; Ps 17:3 (twice in verse); Ps 17:5; Ps 21:3*; Ps 21:8*; Ps 21:12* also used often with ‎אֶמּוֺט‎, ‎יִמּוֺט‎, ‎תִּמּוֺט‎ Ps 10:6; Ps 16:8; Ps 21:8*; Ps 30:7*; Ps 46:6*; Ps 93:1; Ps 96:10; Ps 104:5; Prov 10:30; Prov 12:3; Job 41:15*. In Isa 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 2Kgs 20:4. Joined anomalously with an infin., Ps 32:9 ‎בַּל קְרוֺב אֵלֶיךָ‎ (else) there is not coming nigh thee (i.e. else they will not approach thee).

Brown-Driver-Briggs References