Balah means “consume” — full meaning, definition, and every linked Bible usage across the indexed canon.
Same number, other testament: Strong's G1086 — gergesenos (“Gergesene”) in the Greek Bible.
Strong's H1086 בָּלָה (balah) is a Hebrew Strong's word-study entry. balah (baw-law') v. 1. to fail 2. (by implication) to wear out, decay (causatively, consume, spend) It has 15 linked Bible usages across 9 books. Visible English usage signals include long, am, spend, consume, and enjoy. Indexed coverage on this page includes Old Testament.
balah (baw-law') v. 1. to fail 2. (by implication) to wear out, decay (causatively, consume, spend) [a primitive root] KJV: consume, enjoy long, become (make, wax) old, spend, waste.
How independent scholarly lexicons define Strong's H1086. Each definition is shown with its source so you can compare and cite the original reference works.
to become old
Usage: 1) to wear out, become old 1a) (Qal) to wear out 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to wear out 1b2) to wear out by use, use up completely 1b3) to enjoy, use to the full Aramaic equivalent: be.la (בְּלָא "to wear out" H1080)
The English word each shown verse actually uses to render balah, taken from the interlinear word alignment (the same word underlined in the excerpts below). Where a rendering is used more than once, the count is shown.
Indexed coverage includes Old Testament. Each section below keeps corpus counts and sample passages visible so readers can compare the word across contexts instead of reading one flat concordance list.
Indexed usage grouped by testament and extended corpus so readers can compare this word across the Bible, Septuagint, deuterocanonical books, and 1 Enoch where present.
15 indexed usages in Old Testament.
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.
First 15 linked usage excerpts for Strong's H1086.
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.
And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.
Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
Every indexed verse link for Strong's H1086, grouped by book.
Balah (Strong's H1086) is a Hebrew word most simply glossed "consume". balah (baw-law') v. 1. to fail 2. (by implication) to wear out, decay (causatively, consume, spend)
This page currently indexes 15 linked usages for Strong's H1086 across 9 books.
Use the linked verse references on this page to study Strong's H1086 in context. The indexed coverage includes Old Testament.
The visible usage excerpts most often surface English words such as long, am, spend, consume, and enjoy. These are scanning signals from the displayed verses, not replacements for the original-language definition.