The interjection ouai ('woe!') is a powerful exclamation of grief, lament, and prophetic denunciation, rooted in the Hebrew hoy/oy tradition of the prophetic 'woe oracle.' Its 47 New Testament occurrences concentrate overwhelmingly in the words of Jesus, especially in two devastating series: the woes against the scribes and Pharisees (Matt 23:13-29, seven woes; Luke 11:42-52, six woes) and the woes against unrepentant cities (Matt 11:21, 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!'). In Revelation, it functions as a cry of cosmic judgment -- 'Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth!' (Rev 8:13) -- and marks the three great eschatological woes (Rev 9:12; 11:14). The exclamation can also express self-directed grief, as when Jesus laments 'woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed' (Matt 26:24). Spanish ay, French malheur, and German wehe capture the full emotional and prophetic range.