if
lu introduces conditional statements and, in wishes or laments, clauses expressing an unrealized desire.
As a conjunction, lu frames contingent situations and their outcomes, while in lamenting or desirous speech it introduces a wished-for alternative or outcome.
Senses in use
-
Conjunction introducing conditions and wishes · dominant
The supplied parses identify these forms as Conjunction. In Genesis 50:15 the APB renders a feared contingency concerning Joseph's response, and in Judges 13:23 it renders a conditional inference about what the LORD would have done. In Numbers 14:2 and Joshua 7:7, the APB renders lamenting wishes with “If only,” while Isaiah 48:18 and 1 Samuel 14:30 present unrealized conditions and their stated results.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly makes the conjunction visible with “If” in conditional clauses and “If only” in wishes or laments. Its rendering is read at the verse level; in Psalm 81:14, for example, the desired condition is not explicitly represented in the English verse.