Aramaic word · H1080

בְּלָא

yevale'

to wear out

The verb occurs only here in Biblical Aramaic. Its meaning is secured by the Hebrew cognate bālâ, "to become worn out, used up". In the intensive form used here it means "to wear someone out, wear them down". 1 Chronicles 17:9 uses the Hebrew equivalent for wicked people who "waste" Israel.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament.

What it means

1) (Pael) to wear away, wear out

1a) to harass constantly (fig.)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Daniel 7:25

Range of meaning

The verb occurs only here in Biblical Aramaic. Its meaning is secured by the Hebrew cognate bālâ, "to become worn out, used up". Hebrew uses that word of clothes and sandals that wear thin (Deut 8:4; 29:5; Josh 9:13), of the heavens wearing out like a garment (Ps 102:26; Isa 51:6), and of a body wasting away (Ps 32:3). In the intensive form used here it means "to wear someone out, wear them down". 1 Chronicles 17:9 uses the Hebrew equivalent for wicked people who "waste" Israel.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and WEB keep the picture with "wear out", and NASB has "wear down". BSB and NIV have "oppress", and NLT has the same. "Oppress" is accurate in substance, but it loses the image of slow fraying and gives no sense of how the harm happens.

Used elsewhere in the period

Theodotion's Greek has palaiōsei ("he will make old, wear out"). The Old Greek has katatripsei ("he will rub away, grind down"). The Vulgate has conteret ("he will crush, wear down"). All three ancient versions understood the word as grinding attrition.

Where it appears

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 7:25 יְבַלֵּ֑א he will wear out

    He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.

    Here: "He will wear out". The Hebrew cognate is used of clothes that fray and wear thin with use. The picture is slow, grinding attrition, not one crushing blow.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.