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