The Hebrew interjection abowi (אֲבוֹי) is an exclamation of grief, distress, or lamentation — equivalent to "Alas!" or "Oh no!" It appears only once in the Old Testament (Proverbs 23:29) in a poem about the miseries of drunkenness. The word is onomatopoeic in character — the mournful sound of a cry. It belongs to the family of Hebrew lament expressions that include hoy (woe) and ahah (alas).
Though abowi appears only once in the Hebrew canon, it represents a category of prophetic speech fundamental to both Testaments: the lament cry. The Hebrew prophets repeatedly used "Woe!" (hoy) as a prophetic pronouncement of judgment, and Jesus adopted this exact form in His seven "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees!" (Matthew 23). The book of Lamentations, the prophetic woes, and the Psalms of lament all reflect the same theological conviction: honest grief before God is holy. The lament tradition is not unbelief — it is faith crying out from darkness. Abowi stands at the beginning of this tradition.