Hebrew word · H1082
בָּלַג
hamavlig
be cheerful
A rare root. It occurs only in Amos 5:9; Ps 39:13 [Eng.]; Job 9:27; Job 10:20; and perhaps Jer 8:18. In Psalm 39 and Job the speaker asks God to look away 'that I may brighten up', meaning take heart or show a cheerful face. Arabic balaja is used of dawn breaking and of a face lighting up.
Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to gleam, smile
1a) (Hiphil) only
1a1) to show a smile, look pleasant
1a2) to cause to burst
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
- Range of meaning
A rare root. It occurs only in Amos 5:9; Ps 39:13 [Eng.]; Job 9:27; Job 10:20; and perhaps Jer 8:18. In Psalm 39 and Job the speaker asks God to look away 'that I may brighten up', meaning take heart or show a cheerful face. Arabic balaja is used of dawn breaking and of a face lighting up. So the core idea seems to be 'gleam, shine out', which leads to both 'brighten up / be cheerful' and, in the causative form here, 'make … flash out / burst forth'.
- Against the English
Most modern versions say 'flashes (forth)' (BSB, ESV, NASB) or 'brings sudden destruction' (WEB), keeping the sense of light breaking out suddenly. KJV's 'strengtheneth' follows a medieval Jewish line of interpretation, not the light sense. YLT's 'brightening up' keeps the root's sense from Job and Psalms but makes the clause hard to follow.
- How it drifted
Because the word is so rare, every ancient translator guessed. The Septuagint guessed 'divide', the Vulgate 'smile', and the Jewish tradition behind KJV 'strengthen'. The 'flash' reading of modern versions rests on the comparison with Arabic and on the light imagery of verse 8.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Septuagint: ho diairōn ('the one who divides / deals out'), probably reading פלג. Vulgate: qui subridet vastitatem, 'who smiles devastation', taking the 'be cheerful' sense literally. In Ps 39:13 (Heb. 39:14) and Job 9:27 the meaning 'brighten (the face)' is secure.
- Range of meaning
A rare verb meaning to gleam, brighten or flash. Applied to a person, it means to brighten up, look cheerful, or recover one's spirits. Arabic balaja ('to shine, of the dawn') is usually cited as its relative.
- Against the English
BSB 'smile', WEB 'cheer up', ESV and NASB 'be cheerful' or 'of good cheer', KJV 'comfort [myself]'. 'Smile' and 'brighten up' come closest to the picture of light coming back to a face. KJV's 'comfort' turns it into an inner consolation and loses the visible brightening.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found only a handful of times. Job 10:20: 'Turn from me, that I may brighten up a little.' Ps 39:13[14]: 'Look away from me, that I may brighten up before I go and am no more.' Amos 5:9: God 'who flashes destruction on the strong'. Related is the noun maḇlîḡîṯ in Jer 8:18 ('my cheer/comfort in sorrow'), a textually difficult line.
Where it appears
Job · 2
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Job 9:27 וְאַבְלִֽיגָה׃ and I will be cheerful
If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’
Here: 'And let me brighten up.' This is a rare verb whose basic picture is light breaking out or a face lighting up, as at dawn. The third resolution: to look and be cheerful.
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Job 10:20 וְאַבְלִ֥יגָה so I may be cheerful
Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 39:13 וְאַבְלִ֑יגָה so let me be cheerful
Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”
Amos · 1
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Amos 5:9 הַמַּבְלִ֥יג the [who] causes to flash
He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.
Here: 'The one who makes … flash out.' The word 'the' turns the verb into a title, carrying on the string of descriptions of God from verse 8 ('who made', 'who turns', 'who summons'). The root is rare. It probably pictures light breaking out suddenly, the way dawn breaks, so ruin bursts on the strong without warning.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.