ay is an interrogative particle used to ask about a person's, object's, place's, route's, or source's location.

Across the supplied verses, ay functions as an interrogative particle that frames questions seeking a location, route, origin, presence, or identifiable place; the surrounding clause supplies the particular relation being asked.

1. Interrogative for location, direction, or source · dominant

   The supplied forms are consistently tagged Particle · Interrogative. In Genesis 3:9 the APB renders the question addressed to the man, "Where are you?"; in 1 Kings 13:12 it renders a question about the route, "Which way did he go?"; and in Job 2:2 it renders a question about origin, "From where have you come?" The same interrogative framing also occurs where a person or thing is sought, as in Genesis 4:9 and Job 28:12.

   Genesis 3:91 Kings 13:12Job 2:2Genesis 4:9Job 28:122 Kings 19:13

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the interrogative with "where," while the wider clause can express route or origin as "Which way" and "From where." These English forms reflect the questions as rendered in context rather than separate lexical senses.