הוֹי

hoy · alas, ah

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H1945 · appears 51 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?

Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

hoy (הוֹי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “alas, ah”.

Alas! An exclamation of grief or warning. It was used in the lament for a dead person ("Alas, my brother!") and, in the prophets, to announce disaster.

How to say it

hoy

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

A cry of grief for the dead or a warning of disaster.
A shout to call someone to pay attention or come.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Alas! Woe! An exclamation. It is the cry of lament for a dead person and, in the prophets, the announcement of disaster against someone. Sometimes it is only a call to draw attention.

The funeral lament: “Alas, my brother!” 1 Kings 13:30 Jeremiah 22:18
“Woe {to} those who…!”: the announcement of the prophets Isaiah 5:8 Isaiah 5:20 Amos 5:18
Against the shepherds and the oppressors Ezekiel 34:2 Habakkuk 2:6 Micah 2:1
“Ho!”: a call Isaiah 55:1 Zechariah 2:6

Historical and cultural background

Jeremiah 22:18 records the formulas of lament for a dead person: “‘Alas, my brother!’ and ‘Alas, sister!’”.

How we translate it

“Woe” 40 times in the announcements of the prophets, and “Alas” 6 in the lament for a dead person (1 Kings 13:30; Jeremiah 22:18). When the word does not announce grief but calls someone it is rendered “Ho!” (Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! All who are thirsty, come to the waters!”; Zechariah 2:6-7), with a note that explains that it is the same word.

How it is translated

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

Woe ×40
Alas ×6
Ho ×4
Ah ×1

Related words

Comes from

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

Where it appears

1 Kings 13:30
He laid his corpse in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Alas, my brother!”
Isaiah 1:4
Woe, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who act corruptly! They have abandoned YHWH, they have spurned the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.
Isaiah 1:24
Therefore declares the Lord, YHWH Tsevaot, the Mighty One of Israel: Woe! I will find comfort over my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies.
Isaiah 5:8
Woe to those who join house to house, field to field they bring near, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
Isaiah 5:11
Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after intoxicating drink, who linger into the twilight while wine inflames them!
Isaiah 5:18
Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of falsehood, and as with ropes of a cart, sin;
Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:21
Woe to those wise in their own eyes and discerning in their own sight!
Isaiah 5:22
Woe to those mighty at drinking wine, and men of vigor at mixing intoxicating drink,
Isaiah 10:1
Woe to those who decree decrees of wickedness, and to the writers who write suffering,
Isaiah 10:5
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger! And the staff in their hand is my indignation.
Isaiah 17:12
Woe! The tumult of many peoples, like the roaring of the seas they roar; and the uproar of the nations, like the uproar of mighty waters they resound.
Isaiah 18:1
Woe, land of whirring wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush,
Isaiah 28:1
Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower, the adornment of its beauty, which is on the head of the valley of fatness of those struck down by wine!
Isaiah 29:1
Woe, Ariel, Ariel, town where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts go around.
Isaiah 29:15
Woe to those who go deep to hide their plan from YHWH, and their works are in the dark, and they say, “Who sees us? And who knows us?”
Isaiah 30:1
Woe to the stubborn children, declares YHWH, who make a plan, but not from me, and who pour out a libation, but not of my spirit, so as to add sin to sin;
Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and YHWH they do not seek!
Isaiah 33:1
Woe, devastator, and you have not been devastated; and traitor, and they have not betrayed you! When you finish devastating, you will be devastated; when you stop betraying, they will betray you.
Isaiah 45:9
Woe to him who contends with his Former, a potsherd among the potsherds of the ground! Will the clay say to the one who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands’?
Isaiah 45:10
Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you fathering?’ or to a woman, ‘What are you giving birth to?’
Isaiah 55:1
“Ho! All who are thirsty, come to the waters! And the one who has no silver, come, buy and eat; come, buy without silver and without price wine and milk.
Jeremiah 22:13
Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice; who makes his neighbor work for nothing and does not give him his wages;
Jeremiah 22:18
Therefore, thus says YHWH concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They will not lament for him, ‘Alas, my brother!’ and ‘Alas, sister!’ they will not lament for him, ‘Alas, lord!’ and ‘Alas, his majesty!’
Jeremiah 23:1
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! declares YHWH.
Jeremiah 30:7
Woe! For great is that day, there is none like it; and it is a time of distress for Jacob, but out of it he will be saved.
Jeremiah 34:5
In peace you will die; and as with the burnings for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn for you, and ‘Alas, lord!’ they will lament for you; for I have spoken the word, declares YHWH.”
Jeremiah 47:6
Ah, sword of YHWH! How long will you not be quiet? Withdraw into your sheath; rest and be still!
Jeremiah 48:1
Concerning Moab. Thus says YHWH Tsevaot, Elohim of Israel: Woe to Nebo, for it has been devastated! Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is captured; the high refuge is put to shame and dismayed.
Jeremiah 50:27
Slay all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.
Ezekiel 13:3
Thus says Adonai YHWH: Woe to the foolish prophets who walk after their own spirit, and without having seen!
Ezekiel 13:18
and say, ‘Thus says Adonai YHWH: Woe to the women who sew pads on all the wrists of my hands, and make the veils for the head of every stature to hunt souls! The souls of my people you hunt, and souls for yourselves you keep alive!
Ezekiel 34:2
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, to the shepherds, ‘Thus says Adonai YHWH: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?
Amos 5:18
Woe to those who long for the day of YHWH! What will this day of YHWH be for you? It is darkness, and not light.
Amos 6:1
Woe to those at ease in Zion, and those who trust in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
Micah 2:1
Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! In the light of the morning they do it, for it is in the power of their hand.
Nahum 3:1
Woe to the city of blood! All of it is full of lies and plunder; the prey does not depart.
Habakkuk 2:6
Will not all these take up against him a poem, and a figurative saying, riddles against him? And one will say, ‘Woe to the one who multiplies what is not his! How long? And to the one who loads upon himself pledges!’
Habakkuk 2:9
Woe to the one who gains evil gain for his house, to set on high his nest, to be delivered from the hand of evil!
Habakkuk 2:12
Woe to the one who builds a city with blood and establishes a town with injustice!

And 11 more times.