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Hebrew verb · H1086

בָּלָה

balahbaw-law'

to become old

15 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: bâlâh

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H1086is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 9 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 15
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H1086

to fail; by implication to wear out, decay (causatively, consume, spend)

The King James renders it: consume, enjoy long, become (make, wax) old, spend, waste.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

balah is rendered "to become old". It stands 15 times in the Hebrew text, across nine books.

  • Three of the uses stand in Deuteronomy, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 18:12So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
  • The Greek text spells it fifteen different ways.

The first use

So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Genesis 18:12בְלֹתִי֙

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

The word stands in nine of the 39 Old Testament books.

The other 30 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • it wore out2
  • they will wear out2
  • they wore out2
  • am worn out I1
  • for consuming of1
  • he has made to waste away1
  • he wears out1
  • it will wear out1
  • they became worn out1
  • they have worn out1
  • they will use to full1
  • to consume it1

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

בָּלַעbalato swallow upUses49
בָּלַלbalalto mixUses43
בָּלֶהbaleholdUses5
בָּלַגbalagbe cheerfulUses4
בָּלַקbalaqto wasteUses2
בָּלbalmindUses1
בָּלַםbalamto hold inUses1
בָּלַסbalasto gather/tend figsUses1
בָּלַהּbalahhto troubleUsesnot recorded

Other numbers on this spelling

Strong gave these words the same spelling and different numbers, so the site counts and defines them apart.

All 15, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

15 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • בִּלָּ֤ה1
  • בָל֤וּ1
  • בָל֔וּ1
  • בָּל֣וּ1
  • בָּל֕וּ1
  • בָֽלְתָה֙1
  • בָלְתָ֖ה1
  • בְלֹתִי֙1
  • יִבְלֶ֑ה1
  • יְבַלּ֥וּ1
  • יִבְל֑וּ1
  • יִבְל֔וּ1

and 3 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural4HVqp3cp
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine plural2HVqi3mp
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singular2HVqp3fs
  • preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)1HR/Vpcc
  • preposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HR/Vpcc/Sp3ms
  • verb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine plural1HVpi3mp
  • verb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVpp3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singular1HVqcc/Sp1bs
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person feminine singular1HVqi3fs
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqi3ms

Genesis

one use
  • So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

    Genesis 18:12

    • בְלֹתִי֙velotiverb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine singulartagged: am worn out I

Deuteronomy

three uses
  • Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

    Deuteronomy 8:4

    • בָֽלְתָה֙valtahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it wore out
  • For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

    Deuteronomy 29:5

    • בָל֤וּvaluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they wore out
    • בָלְתָ֖הvaltahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it wore out

Joshua

one use
  • These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”

    Joshua 9:13

    • בָּל֕וּbaluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have worn out

1 Chronicles

one use
  • And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning

    1 Chronicles 17:9

    • לְבַלֹּת֔וֹlevalotopreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: to consume it

Nehemiah

one use
  • For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

    Nehemiah 9:21

    • בָל֔וּvaluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they wore out

Job

one use
  • So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.

    Job 13:28

    • יִבְלֶ֑הyivlehverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he wears out

Psalms

three uses
  • When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

    Psalms 32:3

    • בָּל֣וּbaluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they became worn out
  • Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

    Psalms 49:14

    • לְבַלּ֥וֹתlevalotpreposition + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: for consuming of
  • They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.

    Psalms 102:26

    • יִבְל֑וּyivluverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they will wear out

Isaiah

three uses
  • Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.

    Isaiah 50:9

    • יִבְל֔וּyivluverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they will wear out
  • Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

    Isaiah 51:6

    • תִּבְלֶ֔הtivlehverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it will wear out
  • No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

    Isaiah 65:22

    • יְבַלּ֥וּyevaluverb · intensive (piel), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they will use to full

Lamentations

one use
  • He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.

    Lamentations 3:4

    • בִּלָּ֤הbilahverb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he has made to waste away

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →