בָּלָה
Balah
BDB lists 2 entries for ‘Balah’ fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H1088 appears — 1 distinct verse across 1 book. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Joshua 1 verse
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, בלה (Bâlâh) means “Balah.” A scarce word — 1 verse in all of the Hebrew Bible. Its uses cluster heavily in Joshua (100% of all occurrences). Found nowhere else but Joshua 19:3. Dig into 1-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1088 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 1
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 1 distinct verse.
- 1 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 1 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #6,101
- by frequency
- Rank #6,101 (rank 6,101 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 1 occurrence in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Joshua 1 verse 100%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 1 distinct verse.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 1 verse · 100%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Balah 1×
- American Standard Version†: Balah 1×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Balah 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Balah 1×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1088 across 1† tagged occurrence — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1088 across 1† tagged occurrence — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1088 across 1† tagged occurrence — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1088 across 1† tagged occurrence — most commonly:
Senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 4 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
בלה I loc. in Simeon Jos 19
בלה II become old and worn out (Arabic بَلِىَ, Aramaic בְּלֵי, ܒܠܴܐ, Ethiopic በልየ id.)
Qal
- Pf. בָּלְֽתָה Dt 8:4, בָּלוּ 29:4 +; Impf. יִבְלֶה Jb 13:28 etc.; Inf. c. sf. בְּלֹתִי Gn 18:12;—wear out (intr.), especially of garments Dt 8:4; 29:4(×2), all c. מֵעַל pregn. wear out (and fall) from upon … (hence Ne 9:21), Jos 9:13; fig. of the heavens (with sim. of garment) Is 50:9 ψ 102:27 כַּבֶּגֶד יִבְלוּ, the earth Is 51:6 כַּבֶּגֶד תִּבְלֶה; the bones (through suffering) ψ 32:3; afflicted man Jb 13:28 וְהוּא כְּרָקָב יִבְלֶה (‖ כְּבֶגֶד אֲכָלוֹ עָשׁ); of an aged and decrepit woman Gn 18:12 (J) אַחֲרֵי בְלֹתִי after I am worn out. e.g. Deuteronomy 8:4
Piel
- caus. of Qal.
- a. wear out (trans.), fig. La 3:4 בִּלָּה בְשָׂרִי וְעוֹרִי, ψ 49:15 and their form לְבַלּוֹת שְׁאוֹל is for She’ôl to consume away (others read לִבְלוֹת is for wasting away [Dr§ 204], connecting שׁ׳ with foll.), 1 Ch 17:9 לְבַלֹּתוֹ to wear it (Isr.) out (altered from לְעַנּוֹתוֹ 2 S 7:10), cf. Dn 7:25 Aramaic e.g. Lamentations 3:4
- b. wear out by use, use to the full, Is 65:22 and the work of their hands יְבַלּוּ they shall use to the full, enjoy, Jb 21:13 they wear out their days in prosperity (Qr here יְכַלּוּ complete, which perhaps is the true reading in both passages; cf. Ex 5:13 Jb 36:11).—On בַּ֜לּוֹתִ֗י ψ 92:11, v. sub בָּלַל. e.g. Isaiah 65:22
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. n.pr.loc. in Simeon Jos 19:3.
II. vb. become old and worn out (Arabic بَلِىَ, Aramaic בְּלֵי, ܒܠܴܐ, Ethiopic በልየ id.)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from בלה (bâleh) (H1087) — worn out.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
בָּלָה
- , v. בלי
בלי ²
- , v. בלל; cmp. נבל) to be crumbled; to be worn out, to fail, decay, perish. Koh. R. to I, 4 הוא בוֹלֶה it (the generation of man) decays (dies out), אינה בוֹלָה it (the earth) does not grow old. Taan. 9ᵃ (play on עד בלי די Mal. III, 10) עד שיִבְלוּ שפתותיכם מלומר די until your lips grow tired from saying, It is enough; (Y. ib. III, 66ᵈ bot. שיבללו, v. בָּלַל); a. fr.—Part. pass. בָּלוּי outworn. Pl. בְּלוּיִים. Midr. Till. to Ps. XXV, 1. e.g. Malachi 3:10
- to wear out, outlive, survive. Lev. R. s. 4 הנפש מְבַלָּה וכ׳ the soul survives the body. Lev. R. s. 19 (play on אין בלתך, I Sam. II, 2) אין לְבַלֹּותֶךָ there is none to outlive thee. Koh. R. l. c.; Cant. R. to V, 15 one erects a building ואחר מְבַלֶּה אותו (not מכלה) and another man ruins it. Snh. 105ᵃ, v. בִּלְעָם. e.g. 1 Samuel 2:2
- , Nithpa. נִתְבַּלָּה to become outworn, fade away. Esth. R. introd. עתידין לְהִבָּלוֹת (Gen. R. s. 42 לִבְלוֹת) are destined to decay. Deut. R. s. 7, end נִתְבַּלּוּ (the garments) were worn out. B. Mets. 87ᵃ נ׳ הבשר her body was withered. B. Bath. 146ᵃ עשויין לִיבָּלוֹת made to be used up.
בְּלֵי I
- Targ. Deut. VIII, 4; Targ. Y. Deut. XXIX, 4 בלמו, Var. כלמו, read בלת; a. fr.—Lev. R. s. 19 כולו בלה all goes to ruin. Ber. 5ᵇ, v. בְּכָא. Ib. 6ᵃ. Bekh. 9ᵃ ובלו להו ואזול they failed and went to destruction. Ab. V, 22 סיב ובְלֵה בה grow old and frail in it (the study of the Law).—[Targ. Ps. LXII, 11; XCI, 2 Ms., v. כְּלִי I.]
- as preced. Pi.—Targ. Is. III, 15; a. e.—Ab. Zar. 20ᵃ that this beauty ב׳ עפרא dust will destroy.—Part. pass. f. מְבַלְּיָא. Lev. R. s. 33 (interpret. בלה נאפים Ezek. XXIII, 43) Aquila translates παλαιὰ πόρνη (old harlot), דהוא מבליא גייארא ed. (Ar. דהיא מב׳ גיירייא, Yalk. Dan. 1061 only דהיא מבליא) which means, a wasted harlot (wasted through fornication). e.g. Ezekiel 23:43
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Balah). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
A city in the tribe of Simeon (Josh. 19:3), elsewhere called Bilhah (1 Chr. 4:29) and Baalah (Josh. 15:29).
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(Joshua 19:3) [Baal, Geogr. No. 2, b]
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 1 verse that also exists in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 1 Hebrew verse it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
