οὐ

οὐ — ou

οὐ before a consonant, οὐκ before a vowel with a smooth breathing, and οὐχ before an aspirated vowel; but sometimes in the best manuscripts οὐχ occurs even before a smooth breathing; accordingly, L T WH marginal reading have adopted οὐχ ἰδού, Act 2:7; L T οὐχ Ἰουδαϊκῶς, Gal 2:14 (see WH, Introduction, § 409); L οὐχ ὀλίγος, Act 19:23; οὐχ ἠγάπησαν, Rev 12:11; and contrariwise οὐκ before an aspirate, as οὐκ ἕστηκεν, Joh 8:44 T; (οὐκ ἕνεκεν, 2Co 7:12 T); (οὐκ εὗρον, Luk 24:3; (οὐκ ὑπάρχει, Act 3:6) in manuscript א (also C*; cf. the Alex. manuscript in 1Es 4:2; 1Es 4:12; Job 19:16; Job 38:11; Job 38:26)); cf. Winers Grammar, § 5, 1 d. 14; Buttmann, 7; (A. V. Schütz, Hist. Alphab. Art., Berol. 1875, pp. 54-58; Sophocles, Hist. of Greek Alphab., 1st edition 1848, p. 64f (on the breathing); Tdf., the Sept., edition 4, Proleg., pp. xxxiii. xxxiv.; Scrivener, Collation etc., 2nd edition, p. 55: no. 9; id. manuscript Bezae, p. xlvii. no. 11 (cf. p. xiii. no. 5); Kuenen and Cobet, N. T. etc., p. 87f; Tdf. Proleg., p. 90f; WH. Introductory §§ 405ff, and Appendix, p. 143f); the Sept. for לֹא, אַיִן, אֵין; a particle of negation, not (how it differs from μή has been explained in μή, at the beginning); it is used:

1. absolutely and accented, οὐ, nay, no (Winer's Grammar, 476 (444)): in answers, ὁ δέ φησίν. οὐ, Mat 13:29; ἀπεκρίθη. Οὐ, Joh 1:21;, cf. 7:12; repeated, οὐ οὐ, it strengthens the negation, nay, nay, by no means, Mat 5:37; ἤτω ὑμῶν τό οὐ οὐ, let your denial be truthful, Jas 5:12; on 2Co 1:17-19, see ναί.

2. It is joined to other words — to a finite verb, simply to deny that what is declared in the verb applies to the subject of the sentence: Mat 1:25 (οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτήν); Mar 3:25; Luk 6:43; Joh 10:28; Act 7:5; Rom 1:16, and times without number. It has the same force when conjoined to participles: ὡς οὐκ ἀέρα δέρων, 1Co 9:26; οὐκ ὄντος αὐτῷ τέκνου, at the time when he had no child, Act 7:5 (μή ὄντος would be, although he had no child); add, Rom 8:20; 1Co 4:14; 2Co 4:8; Gal 4:8; Gal 4:27; Col 2:19; Php 3:3; Heb 11:35; 1Pe 1:8; ὁ... οὐκ ὤν ποιμήν, Joh 10:12 (where according to classical usage μή must have been employed, because such a person is imagined as is not a shepherd; (cf. Buttmann, 351 (301) and μή, I. 5 b.)). in relative sentences: εἰσιν... τινες οἱ οὐ πιστεύουσιν, Joh 6:64; add, Mat 10:38; Mat 12:2; Luk 6:2; Rom 15:21; Gal 3:10, etc.; οὐκ ἐστιν ὅς and οὐδέν ἐστιν ὁ followed by a future: Mat 10:26; Luk 8:17; Luk 12:2; τίς ἐστιν, ὅς οὐ followed by a present indicative: Act 19:35; Heb 12:7; cf. Winers Grammar, 481 (448); Buttmann, 355 (305); in statements introduced by ὅτι after verbs of understanding, perceiving, saying, etc.: Joh 5:42; Joh 8:55, etc.; ὅτι οὐκ (where οὐκ is pleonastic) after ἀρνεῖσθαι, 1Jn 2:22; cf. Buttmann, § 148, 13; (Winer's Grammar, § 65, 2 β.); — to an infinitive, where μή might have been expected: τίς ἔτι χρεία κατά τήν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ ἕτερον ἀνίστασθαι ἱερέα καί οὐ κατά τήν τάξιν Ἀαρών λέγεσθαι, Heb 7:11 (where the difficulty is hardly removed by saying (e. g. with Winer's Grammar, 482 (449)) that οὐ belongs only to κατά τήν τάξιν Ἀαρών, not to the infinitive). it serves to deny other parts of statements: οὐκ ἐν σοφία λόγου, 1Co 1:17; οὐ μέλανι, οὐκ ἐν πλαξί λιθίναις, 2Co 3:3, and many other examples; — to deny the object, ἔλεος (R G ἔλεον) θέλω, οὐ θυσίαν, Mat 9:13; Mat 12:7; οὐκ ἐμέ δέχεται, Mar 9:37. It blends with the term to which it is prefixed into a single and that an affirmative idea (Winers Grammar, 476 (444); cf. Buttmann, 347 (298)); as, οὐκ ἐάω, to present, hinder, Act 16:7; Act 19:30 (cf., on this phrase, Herm. ad Vig., p. 887f); οὐκ ἔχω, to be poor, Mat 13:12; Mar 4:25 (see ἔχω, I. 2 a., p. 266{b}); τά οὐκ ἀνήκοντα (or ἅ οὐκ ἀνῆκεν, L T Tr WH), unseemly, dishonorable, Eph 5:4 (see μή, I. 5 d. at the end, p. 410a; (cf. Buttmann, § 148, 7{a}.; Winer's Grammar, 486 (452))); often so as to form a litotes; as, οὐκ ἀγνοέω, to know well, 2Co 2:11 (Wis 12:10); οὐκ ὀλίγοι, not a few, i. e. very many, Act 17:4; Act 17:12; Act 19:23; Act 15:2; Act 14:28; Act 27:20; οὐ πολλαί ἡμέραι, a few days, Luk 15:13; Joh 2:12; Act 1:5; οὐ πολύ, Act 27:14; οὐ μετρίως, Act 20:12; οὐκ ἄσημος, not undistinguished (A. V. no mean etc.), Act 21:39; οὐκ ἐκ μέτρου, Joh 3:34. it serves to limit the term to which it is joined: οὐ πάντως, not altogether, not entirely (see πάντως, c. β.); οὐ πᾶς, not any and every one, Mat 7:21; plural, οὐ πάντες, not all, Mat 19:11; Rom 9:6; Rom 10:16; οὐ πᾶσα σάρξ, not every kind of flesh, 1Co 15:39; οὐ παντί τῷ λαῷ, not to all the people, Act 10:41; on the other hand, when οὐ is joined to the verb, πᾶς... οὐ must be rendered no one, no (as in Hebrew, now כָּל... לֹא, now לֹא... כָּל; cf. Winer, Lex. Hebrew et Chald., p. 513f): Luk 1:31; Eph 5:5; 1Jn 2:21; Rev 22:3; πᾶσα σάρξ... οὐ with a verb, no flesh, no mortal, Mat 24:22; Mar 13:20; Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16; cf. Winers Grammar, § 26, 1; (Buttmann, 121 (106)). Joined to a noun it denies and annuls the idea of the noun; as, τόν οὐ λαόν, a people that is not a people (German einNichtvolk, a no-people), Rom 9:25, cf. 1Pe 2:10; ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει (R. V. with that which is no nation), Rom 10:19 (so עָם לֹא; אֵל לֹא, a no-god, Deu 32:21; עֵץ לֹא, a not-wood, Isa 10:15; οὐκ ἀρχιερεύς, 2Ma 4:13; ἡ οὐ διάλυσις, Thucydides 1, 137, 4; ἡ οὐ περιτείχισις 3, 95, 2; ἡ οὐκ ἐξουσία 5, 50, 3; δἰ ἀπειροσυναν... κουκ ἀπόδειξιν, Euripides, Hippolytus 196, and other examples in Greek writings; non sutor, Horace sat. 2, 3, 106; non corpus, Cicero, acad. 1, 39 at the end); cf. Winers Grammar, 476 (444); (Buttmann, § 148, 9); ἡ οὐκ ἠγαπημένη, Rom 9:25; οἱ οὐκ ἠλεημένοι, 1Pe 2:10.

3. followed by another negative,

a. it strengthens the negation: οὐ κρίνω οὐδένα, Joh 8:15; add, Mar 5:37; 2Co 11:9 (8); οὗ οὐκ ἦν οὐδέπω οὐδείς κείμενος, Luk 23:53 (see οὐδέπω); οὐκ... οὐδέν, nothing at all, Luk 4:2; Joh 6:63; Joh 11:49; Joh 12:19; Joh 15:5; οὐ μέλει σοι περί οὐδενός, Mat 22:16; οὐκ... οὐκέτι, Act 8:39; cf. Matthiae, § 609, 3; Kühner, ii. § 516; Winers Grammar, § 55, 9{b}; (Buttmann, § 148, 11).

b. as in Latin, it changes a negation into an affirmation (cf. Matthiae, § 609, 2; Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2, p. 695f; Winers Grammar, § 55, 9 a.; Buttmann, § 148, 12); οὐ παρά τοῦτο οὐκ ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, not on this account is it not of the body, i. e. it belongs to the body, does not cease to be of the body, 1Co 12:15; οὐ δυνάμεθα ἅ εἴδομεν καί ἠκούσαμεν μή λαλεῖν, we are unable not to speak (A. V. we cannot but speak), Act 4:20.

4. It is used in disjunctive statements where one thing is denied that another may be established (Winers Grammar, § 55, 8; cf. Buttmann, 356 (306)): οὐκ... ἀλλά, Luk 8:52; Luk 24:6 (WH reject the clause); Joh 1:33; Joh 7:10; Joh 7:12; Joh 7:16; Joh 8:49; Act 10:41; Rom 8:20; 1Co 15:10; 2Co 3:3; 2Co 8:5; Heb 2:16, etc.; see ἀλλά II. 1; οὐχ ἵνα... ἀλλ' ἵνα, Joh 3:17; οὐχ ἵνα... ἀλλά, Joh 6:38; οὐ μόνον... ἀλλά καί, see ἀλλά, II. 1 and μόνος, 2; οὐκ... εἰ μή, see εἰ, III. 8 c., p. 171{b}; οὐ μή with subjunctive aorist followed by εἰ μή, Rev 21:27 (see εἰ as above, β.).

5. It is joined to other particles: οὐ μή, not at all, by no means, surely not, in no wise, see μή, IV.; οὐ μηκέτι with aorist subjunctive Mat 21:19 L T Tr marginal reading WH. μή οὐ, where μή is interrogative (Latinnum) and οὐ negative (cf. Buttmann, 248 (214), 354 (304); Winer's Grammar, 511 (476)): Rom 10:18; 1Co 9:4; 1Co 11:22. εἰ οὐ, see εἰ, III. 11, p. 172a. οὐ γάρ (see γάρ, I., p. 109b), Act 16:37.

6. As in Hebrew לֹא with imperfect, so in Biblical Greek οὐ with 2 person future is used in emphatic prohibition (in secular authors it is milder; cf. Winers Grammar, § 43, 5 c.; also 501f (467f); (Buttmann, § 139, 64); Fritzsche on Matthew, p. 259f (cf. p. 252f) thinks otherwise, but not correctly): Mat 6:5; and besides in the moral precepts of the O. T., Mat 4:7; Mat 19:18; Luk 4:12; Act 23:5; Rom 7:7; Rom 13:9.

7. οὐ is used interrogatively — when an affirmative answer is expected (Latinnonne; (Winers Grammar, § 57, 3{a}; Buttmann, 247 (213))): Mat 6:26; Mat 6:30; Mat 17:24; Mar 4:21; Mar 12:24; Luk 11:40; Joh 4:35; Joh 7:25; Act 9:21; Rom 9:21; 1 Corinthians 9:1, 6f, 12; Jas 2:4, and often; οὐκ οἴδατε κτλ.; and the like, see εἰδῶ, II. 1, p. 174{a}; ἀλλ' οὐ, Heb 3:16 (see ἀλλά, I. 10, p. 28{a}); οὐκ ἀποκρίνῃ οὐδέν; answerest thou nothing at all? Mar 14:60; Mar 15:4; — where an exclamation of reproach or wonder, which denies directly, may take the place of a negative question: Mar 4:13; Mar 4:38; Luk 17:18; Act 13:10 (cf. Buttmann, § 139, 65); (on which see ἄρα, 1); cf. Winer's Grammar, as above; οὐ μή πίω αὐτό; shall I not drink it? Joh 18:11; cf. Winers Grammar, p. 512 (477); (cf. Buttmann, § 139, 2).

STRONGS NT 3756: οὐχοὐχ, see οὐ.