StrongerBible

balah

בָּלָה

HebrewH1086wear out, grow old, ...

Appears 15 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 18:12Deu 8:4Deu 29:5(4) (2×)Jos 9:131Ch 17:9Neh 9:21Job 13:28Psa 32:3Psa 49:14(15)Psa 102:26(27)Isa 50:9Isa 51:6Isa 65:22Lam 3:4
Root family
Word studybah-LAHverb

What balah means

to wear out: to become old and worn through use, or to use something up.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

At its core this word is about the slow damage that time and use do to a thing. Clothes fray, sandals give out, a body ages, and even the sky and land, the poets say, will one day wear thin like an old coat. The same picture covers all of it: something once fresh is gradually used up.

The word works two ways. Most often it describes something wearing out on its own: garments, bones, the heavens and the earth. But it can also be done to something, as when grief "wears out" a person's body or the grave consumes what is left of the dead.

One turn is worth watching, because it runs the opposite direction. In a promise of restored life, God's people will "wear out" the work of their own hands, meaning they will live long enough to use it fully and enjoy every bit of it. The same verb that pictures decay here pictures a life so long and settled that nothing is wasted.

The most striking use sets the wearing out of creation against the God who does not wear out. The heavens and the earth will grow old like a garment, but the One who made them stays the same. A related word for growing old in years is זָקֵן, and a companion image of decay is רָקָב, "to rot," which stands right beside this verb when Job pictures his own body falling apart.

Nuances

1aof clothing and footwear: to wear out with use, become threadbare.
TranslatabilityDirect
Deu 8:4Deu 29:5(4) (2×)Jos 9:13Neh 9:21
1bof a living body: to grow old, waste away, or decay.
Gen 18:12Job 13:28Psa 32:3Isa 50:9
1cof the heavens and the earth: to wear out like a garment and pass away.
Psa 102:26(27)Isa 51:6
1dto wear something out: to wear it down, use it up, or consume it.
1Ch 17:9Psa 49:14(15)Lam 3:4
1eto use something to the full: to enjoy it for a long time.
TranslatabilityPartial
Isa 65:22

What scholars say about balah

The standard lexica (HALOT, BDB, DCH) agree on a single verb בָּלָה meaning "wear out, become old and worn," with an intransitive stem for something wearing out (garments in Deut 8:4; 29:5; Josh 9:13; Neh 9:21; the body in Gen 18:12; Ps 32:3; Job 13:28; and the heavens and earth as a worn garment in Ps 102:26; Isa 50:9; 51:6) and a factitive stem meaning "wear out, use up, consume" (Lam 3:4; Ps 49:15 [Eng 49:14]; 1 Chr 17:9), which in Isa 65:22 carries the positive nuance "use to the full, enjoy." The garment simile of Ps 102:26 is taken up in the Greek of Heb 1:11 with παλαιόω. In 1 Chr 17:9 the reading לְבַלֹּתוֹ stands where the parallel 2 Sam 7:10 has לְעַנֹּתוֹ "to afflict," a well-known variant discussed in the Chronicles commentaries.

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. בלהlexicon
  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. בלהlexicon
  • DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. בלהlexicon
  • Sara Japhet, I & II Chronicles: A Commentary, OTL (1993)commentary

All attested forms of בָּלָה

qal perfect 3cp

בָּלוּ

Deu 29:5, Jos 9:13, Neh 9:21, Psa 32:3

piel infinitive-construct construct

בַלּוֹת, בַלֹּת

Psa 49:14, 1Ch 17:9

qal imperfect 3mp

יִבְלוּ

Psa 102:26, Isa 50:9

qal perfect 3fs

בָלְתָה

Deu 8:4, Deu 29:5

piel imperfect 3mp

יְבַלּוּ

Isa 65:22

piel perfect 3ms

בִּלָּה

Lam 3:4

qal imperfect 3fs

תִּבְלֶה

Isa 51:6

qal imperfect 3ms

יִבְלֶה

Job 13:28

qal infinitive-construct construct

בְלֹתִ

Gen 18:12