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 39Old Testament books
- 15spellings
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.
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.
| Word | Written | Meaning | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| בָּלַע | bala | to swallow up | Uses49 |
| בָּלַל | balal | to mix | Uses43 |
| בָּלֶה | baleh | old | Uses5 |
| בָּלַג | balag | be cheerful | Uses4 |
| בָּלַק | balaq | to waste | Uses2 |
| בָּל | bal | mind | Uses1 |
| בָּלַם | balam | to hold in | Uses1 |
| בָּלַס | balas | to gather/tend figs | Uses1 |
| בָּלַהּ | balahh | to trouble | Usesnot 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?”
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- בִּלָּ֤הbilahverb · intensive (piel), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he has made to waste away
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.
