ulay · perhaps

What it means

ulay (אוּלַי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “perhaps”.

Maybe.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A word of uncertain hope: it may happen, may it be so.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Perhaps, maybe: it expresses a possibility, often a hope or a fear. In many prayers and pleas it opens the door to what God might do.

• “Perhaps there are fifty righteous”: Abraham’s intercession Genesis 18:24Genesis 18:32
• Perhaps YHWH will hear or forgive Exodus 32:302 Kings 19:4Amos 5:15
• Perhaps YHWH will act for us 1 Samuel 14:6Joshua 14:12
• Humble hope: “perhaps there is hope” Lamentations 3:29Zephaniah 2:3
• The fear that something will go wrong Genesis 24:5Job 1:5

How we translate it

“Perhaps” 44 times, also twice in Elijah’s mockery (1 Kings 18:27) and in “if perhaps it yields” (Hosea 8:7); in Numbers 22:33 the sense asks for “If … not”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• perhaps ×44
• If ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×12
• Exodus×1
• Numbers×5
• Joshua×2
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×3
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×1
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×6
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1
• Jonah×1
• Zephaniah×1

• Genesis 16:2

  Sarai said to Abram, “Look, YHWH has kept me from bearing children. Go in please to my slave woman; perhaps I will have children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

• Genesis 18:24

  Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city; will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

• Genesis 18:28

  Perhaps the fifty righteous will lack five; will you destroy for the five the whole city?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find there forty-five.”

• Genesis 18:29

  He spoke to him yet again and said, “Perhaps forty will be found there.” He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

• Genesis 18:30

  Then he said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak: perhaps thirty will be found there.” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

• Genesis 18:31

  He said, “Look, I have ventured to speak to Adonai: perhaps twenty will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

• Genesis 18:32

  He said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak only this once: perhaps ten will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

• Genesis 24:5

  The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to come after me to this land. Must I then take back your son to the land from which you came?”

• Genesis 24:39

  I said to my lord, ‘Perhaps the woman will not come after me.’

• Genesis 27:12

  Perhaps my father will feel me, and I will be in his eyes like a mocker, and I will bring on myself a curse and not a blessing.”

• Genesis 32:20

  And you shall say, ‘Also, look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said to himself, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

• Genesis 43:12

  Take double the silver in your hand, and the silver that was returned in the mouth of your bags carry back in your hand; perhaps it was a mistake.

• Exodus 32:30

  And it happened on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to YHWH; perhaps I can make expiation for your sin.”

• Numbers 22:6

  And now, come, please, curse this people for me, for they are mightier than I. Perhaps I will be able to strike them and drive them out of the land; for I know that whom you bless is blessed, and whom you curse is cursed.”

• Numbers 22:11

  ‘Look, the people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the earth; now, come, curse them for me; perhaps I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.’”

• Numbers 22:33

  And the donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely by now I would have killed even you and let her live.”

• Numbers 23:3

  And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps YHWH will come to meet me, and whatever word he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height.

• Numbers 23:27

  And Balak said to Balaam, “Come, please, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in the eyes of Elohim that you curse them for me from there.”

• Joshua 9:7

  The men of Israel said to the Hivite, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?”

• Joshua 14:12

  And now, give me this hill country of which YHWH spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim are there, and cities, great and fortified. Perhaps YHWH will be with me, and I will dispossess them, just as YHWH spoke.”

• 1 Samuel 6:5

  So you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice that are destroying the land, and give glory to the Elohim of Israel; perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and from upon your gods and from upon your land.

• 1 Samuel 9:6

  But he said to him, “Look, please, there is a man of Elohim in this city, and the man is held in honor; all that he says surely comes about. Now let us go there; perhaps he will tell us our way on which we should go.”

• 1 Samuel 14:6

  Jonathan said to the young man who carried his weapons, “Come, let us cross over to the post of these uncircumcised; perhaps YHWH will act for us, for there is no hindrance for YHWH to save by many or by few.”

• 2 Samuel 14:15

  Now then, that I have come to speak this word to the king my lord is because the people made me afraid; and your servant said, ‘Let me speak, please, to the king; perhaps the king will do the word of his servant.

• 2 Samuel 16:12

  Perhaps YHWH will look on my eye, and YHWH will repay me good in place of his curse this day.”

• 1 Kings 18:5

  Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we will find grass and keep alive horse and mule, and not have to cut off some of the animals.”

• 1 Kings 18:27

  And it happened at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god! Perhaps he is musing, or he has stepped aside, or he is on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and must wake up.”

• 1 Kings 20:31

  His servants said to him, “Look, please, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of loyal love. Let us put, please, sackcloth on our waists and ropes on our heads, and let us go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”

• 2 Kings 19:4

  Perhaps YHWH your Elohim will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to taunt the living Elohim, and will rebuke him for the words that YHWH your Elohim has heard; so lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

• Job 1:5

  And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them; he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed Elohim in their hearts.” Thus Job would do all the days.

• Isaiah 37:4

  Perhaps YHWH your Elohim will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to taunt the living Elohim, and will rebuke him for the words that YHWH your Elohim has heard; so lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

• Isaiah 47:12

  Stand now with your spells and with the great number of your sorceries, in which you have worn yourself out from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will cause terror.

• Jeremiah 20:10

  For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce him, and let us denounce him!” All the men of my peace, watching for my stumbling, say, “Perhaps he will let himself be seduced, and we will prevail over him, and we will take our vengeance on him.”

• Jeremiah 21:2

  “Inquire, please, of YHWH for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us; perhaps YHWH will deal with us according to all his wonders, and he will withdraw from us.”

• Jeremiah 26:3

  Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each one from his evil way, and I will relent concerning the evil that I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

• Jeremiah 36:3

  Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I am planning to do to them, so that they may turn back, each one from his evil way, and I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

• Jeremiah 36:7

  Perhaps their supplication will fall before YHWH, and they will turn back, each one from his evil way, for great is the anger and the fury that YHWH has spoken against this people.”

• Jeremiah 51:8

  Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed.

• Lamentations 3:29

  Let him put his mouth in the dust; perhaps there is hope.

• Ezekiel 12:3

  And you, son of man, make for yourself baggage for exile, and go into exile by day before their eyes; and you will go into exile from your place to another place before their eyes; perhaps they will see, though they are a rebellious house.

And 5 more times.