Interjection ouai (woe) in the Bible

(Translation from NRSV for the New Testament and Brenton for the Septuagint with a few modifications for a more literal meaning)


Matthew

11: 21"Woe (ouai) to you, Chorazin! Woe (ouai) to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
18: 7Woe (ouai) to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe (ouai) to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!
23: 13"But woe (ouai) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.
23: 15Woe (ouai) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
23: 16"Woe (ouai) to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.'
23: 23"Woe (ouai) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.
23: 25"Woe (ouai) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
23: 27"Woe (ouai) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.
23: 29"Woe (ouai) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous,
24: 19Woe (ouai) to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!
26: 24The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe (ouai) to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born."

Mark

13: 17Woe (ouai) to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!
14: 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe (ouai) to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born."

Luke

6: 24"But woe (ouai) to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
6: 25"Woe (ouai) to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. "Woe (ouai) to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
6: 26"Woe (ouai) to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
10: 13"Woe (ouai) to you, Chorazin! Woe (ouai) to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
11: 42"But woe (ouai) to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.
11: 43Woe (ouai) to Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.
11: 44Woe (ouai) to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it."
11: 46And he said, "Woe (ouai) also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.
11: 47Woe (ouai) to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.
11: 52Woe (ouai) to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."
17: 1Jesus said to his disciples, "Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe (ouai) to anyone by whom they come!
21: 23Woe (ouai) to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people;
22: 22For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe (ouai) to that one by whom he is betrayed!"

1 Corinthians

9: 16If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe (ouai) to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!

Jude

1: 11Woe (ouai) to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam's error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah's rebellion.

Revelation

8: 13Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, "Woe (ouai), woe (ouai), woe (ouai) to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!"
9: 12The first woe (ouai) has passed. There are still two woes (ouai) to come.
11: 14The second woe (ouai) has passed. The third woe (ouai) is coming very soon.
12: 12Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe (ouai) to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"
18: 10they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, "Woe (ouai), woe (ouai), the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come."
18: 16" Woe (ouai), woe (ouai), the great city, clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!
18: 19And they threw dust on their heads, as they wept and mourned, crying out, " Woe (ouai), woe (ouai), the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in one hour she has been laid waste."

Numbers (LXX)

21: 29Woe (ouai) to thee, Moab; thou art lost, thou people of Chamos: their sons are sold for preservation, and their daughters are captives to Seon king of the Amorites.

1 Samuel (LXX: 1 Kings)

4: 7And the Philistines feared, and said, These are the Gods that are come to them into the camp. Woe (ouai) to us, O Lord, deliver us today, for such a thing has not happened aforetime:
4: 8woe (ouai) to us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote Egypt with every plague, and in the wilderness.
4: 21And she called the child Woe (ouai) Uaebarchaboth, because of the ark of God, and because of her father-in-law, and because of her husband.

1 Kings (LXX: 3 Kings)

12: 24mfor thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will destroy every male of Jeroboam, and there shall be the dead of Jeroboam in the city, them the dogs shall eat, and him that has died in the field shall the birds of the air eat, and he shall lament for the child, saying, Woe (ouai) is me, Lord! for there has been found in him some good thing touching the Lord.
13: 30and they bewailed him, saying, Woe (ouai), brother.

Isaiah (LXX)

1: 4 Woe (ouai) sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
1: 24Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe (ouai) to the mighty men of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against mine adversaries, and I will execute judgment on.
3: 9And the shame of their face has risen up against them; they have proclaimed their sin like that of Sodoma, and they have made it plain. Woe (ouai) to their soul! Because they have given evil counsel against themselves,
3: 11Woe (ouai) to the transgressor! evils shall happen to him according to the works of his hands.
5: 8 Woe (ouai) to them that join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbour's: will ye dwell alone upon the land?
5: 11Woe (ouai) to them that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till the evening: for the wine shall inflame them.
5: 18Woe (ouai) to them that draw sins to them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer's yoke:
5: 20Woe (ouai) to them that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.
5: 21Woe (ouai) to them that are wise in their own conceit, and knowing in their own sight.
5: 22Woe (ouai) to the strong ones of you that drink wine, and the mighty ones that mingle strong drink:
10: 1 Woe (ouai) to them that write wickedness; for when they write they do write wickedness,
10: 5 Woe (ouai) to the Assyrians; the rod of my wrath, and anger are in their hands.
17: 12Woe (ouai) to the multitude of many nations, as the swelling sea, so shall ye be confounded; and the force of many nations shall sound like water;
18: 1 Woe (ouai) to you, ye wings of the land of ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
24: 16O Lord God of Israel, from the ends of the earth we have heard wonderful things, and there is hope to the godly: but they shall say, Woe (ouai) to the despisers, that despise the law.
28: 1 Woe (ouai) to the crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without wine.
29: 1Woe (ouai) for the city Ariel, which David besieged. Gather ye fruits year by year; eat ye, for ye shall eat with Moab.
29: 15Woe (ouai) to them that deepen their counsel, and not by the Lord. Woe (ouai) to them that take secret counsel, and whose works are in darkness, and they say, Who has seen us? and who shall know us, or what we do?
30: 1 Woe (ouai) to the apostate children, saith the Lord: ye have framed counsel, not by me, and covenants not by my Spirit, to add sins to sins:
31: 1 Woe (ouai) to them that go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots, for they are many; and in horses, which are a great multitude; and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought the Lord.
33: 1 Woe (ouai) to them that afflict you; but no one makes you miserable: and he that deals perfidiously with you does not deal perfidiously: they that deal perfidiously shall be taken and given up, and as a moth on a garment, so shall they be spoiled.

Jeremiah (LXX)

4: 13Behold, he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe (ouai) unto us! for we are in misery.
6: 4Prepare yourselves for war against her; rise up, and let us go up against her at noon. Woe (ouai) to us! for the day has gone down, for the shadows of the day fail.
10: 19Woe (ouai) for thy ruin! thy plague is grievous: and I said, Surely this is thy wound, and it has overtaken thee.
13: 27thine adultery also, and thy neighing, and the looseness of thy fornication: on the hills and in the fields I have seen thine abominations. Woe (ouai) to thee, O Jerusalem, for thou hast not been purified so as to follow me; how long yet shall it be?
22: 18Therefore this is what the Lord says regarding King loakim son of losias of louda: Woe (ouai) to this man! They shall not lament for him, "Ah, brother!" nor shall they weep for him, "Alas, lord!"
46 (26): 19O daughter of Egypt dwelling at home, prepare thee stuff for removing: for Memphis shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe (ouai), because there are no inhabitants in it.
50 (27): 27Dry ye up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe (ouai) to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution.
51 (28): 2And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall spoil her, and shall ravage her land. Woe (ouai) to Babylon round about her in the day of her affliction.
48 (31): 1Thus has the Lord said concerning Moab, Woe (ouai) to Nabau! for it has perished: Cariathaim is taken: Amath and Agath are put to shame.

Ezekiel (LXX)

2: 10And he unrolled it before me: and in it the front and the back were written upon: and there was written in it Lamentation, and mournful song, and woe (ouai).
7: 26There shall be woe (ouai) upon woe (ouai), and there shall be message upon message; and a vision shall be sought from a prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.
13: 3 Thus saith the Lord, Woe (ouai) to them that prophesy out of their own heart, and who see nothing at all.
13: 18And thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Woe (ouai) to the women that sew pillows under every elbow, and make kerchiefs on the head of every stature to pervert souls! The souls of my people are perverted, and they have saved souls alive.

Amos (LXX)

5: 16Therefore thus saith the Lord God Almighty; In all the streets shall be lamentations; and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe (ouai), woe (ouai)! the husbandman shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.
5: 18Woe (ouai) to you that desire the day of the Lord! what is this day of the Lord to you? whereas it is darkness, and not light.
6: 1Woe (ouai) to them that set at nought Sion, and that trust in the mountain of Samaria: they have gathered the harvest of the heads of the nations, and they have gone in themselves.

Hosea (LXX)

7: 13Woe (ouai) to them! for they have started aside from me: they are cowards; for they have sinned against me: yet I redeemed them, but they spoke falsehoods against me.
9: 12For even if they should rear their children, yet shall they be utterly bereaved: wherefore also there is woe (ouai) to them, though my flesh is of them.

Micah (LXX)

7: 4therefore I will take away their goods as a devouring moth, and as one who acts by a rigid rule in a day of visitation. Woe (ouai), woe (ouai), thy times of vengeance are come; now shall be their lamentations.

Nahum (LXX)

3: 1717 Thy mixed multitude has suddenly departed as the grasshopper, as the locust perched on a hedge in a frosty day; the sun arises, and it flies off, and knows not its place: woe (ouai) to them!

Habakkuk (LXX)

2: 6Shall not all these take up a parable against him? and a proverb to tell against him? and they shall say, Woe (ouai) to him that multiplies to himself the possessions which are not his! how long? and who heavily loads his yoke.
2: 12Woe (ouai) to him that builds a city with blood, and establishes a city by unrighteousness.
2: 19Woe (ouai) to him that says to the wood, Awake, arise; and to the stone, Be thou exalted! whereas it is an image, and this is a casting of gold and silver, and there is no breath in it.

Zephaniah (LXX)

2: 5Woe (ouai) to them that dwell on the border of the sea, neighbours of the Cretans! the word of the Lord is against you, O Chanaan, land of the Philistines, and I will destroy you out of your dwellingplace.
3: 18And I will gather thine afflicted ones. Woe (ouai)! who has taken up a reproach against her?

Lamentations (LXX)

5: 16The crown has fallen from our head: yea, woe (ouai) to us! for we have sinned.

Proverbs (LXX)

23: 29Who [has] woe (ouai)? who trouble? who [has] quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who [has] bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?

Ecclesiastes (LXX)

4: 10For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe (ouai) to him that is alone when he falls, and there is not a second to lift him up.
10: 16Woe (ouai) to thee, O city, whose king is young, and thy princes eat in the morning!

Judith (LXX)

16: 17Woe (ouai) to the nations that rise up against my kindred! the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they shall feel them, and weep for ever.

Tobit (LXX: Sinaiticus version)

10: 5"Woe (ouai) to me, my child, the light of my eyes, that I let you go!"

Sirach (LXX)

2: 12Woe (ouai) be to fearful hearts, and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways!
2: 13Woe (ouai) unto him that is fainthearted! for he believeth not; therefore shall he not be defended.
2: 14Woe (ouai) unto you that have lost patience! and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you?
41: 8Woe (ouai) be unto you, ungodly men, which have forsaken the law of the most high God! for if ye increase, it shall be to your destruction: