Hebrew word · H1086

בָּלָה

bilah

to become old

To become old, wear out, decay, fall apart from age and use. It is used above all of clothing, and also of bodies, skins and the heavens and earth pictured as a garment.

Appears 15 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

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)

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 Deuteronomy 29:5

Range of meaning: To become old, wear out, decay, fall apart from age and use. It is used above all of clothing, and also of bodies, skins and the heavens and earth pictured as a garment.
Against the English: 'Wear out' (BSB, NIV, ESV) is exact. KJV's 'waxen old' keeps the 'grow old' side of the word. YLT's 'consumed… worn away' is close. No serious drift.
Used elsewhere in the period: Josh 9:4–5, 13: the Gibeonites put on worn-out (balot) sandals and cloaks to fake a long journey. Isa 50:9; 51:6 and Ps 102:26: 'they will all wear out like a garment'. Gen 18:12: Sarah, 'after I am worn out'. Deut 8:4 uses the same verb of the cloak.

From the study of Isaiah 65:22

Range of meaning: Basic form: "to become old, wear out" (of garments, Deuteronomy 8:4; 29:5; of the heavens and earth, Isaiah 51:6; Psalm 102:26). Intensive form, used here: "to make old, wear out, use up" (Lamentations 3:4, "he has made my flesh waste away"). Job 21:13 (written text) says the wicked "wear out their days in prosperity."
Against the English: KJV, WEB, ESV and NIV have "long enjoy." BSB has "fully enjoy." YLT and NASB keep the literal "wear out." Translations with "enjoy" give the result but lose the picture. The Hebrew does not mention pleasure. It means using something for its whole life, until it is worn out.
How it drifted: "Enjoy" goes back to older English versions (KJV and earlier) that took the idiom as "use to the full," which is a fair reading. A modern ear hears enjoyment and pleasure, though. The original image is about time and ownership: you will still be alive, and it will still be yours, when the roof needs replacing and the vines grow old.
Used elsewhere in the period: The verb is used mostly of garments and other worn-out things (Joshua 9:13; Nehemiah 9:21; Isaiah 50:9). Job 21:13 uses the intensive form with "days" as its object, a close idiom: "to wear out one's days" means to live them all to the end.

From the study of Genesis 18:12

Range of meaning: To wear out, become worn, decay. It is used above all of clothing and sandals (Deut 8:4; 29:5; Josh 9:5, 13; Neh 9:21). It is used of the body wasting away (Ps 32:3, "my bones wasted away"; Lam 3:4). It is used of the heavens and earth wearing out like a garment (Isa 50:9; 51:6; Ps 102:26).
Against the English: "Worn out" (BSB and others) keeps the picture. "Waxed old" (KJV) and "grown old" (WEB, NASB) turn it into a simple statement of age. That repeats what "old" already says at the end of the verse and loses the image of something used up.
How it drifted: Not drift so much as flattening. Some translations merge it into the general idea of old age.
Used elsewhere in the period: Its use for clothing is standard in Biblical Hebrew. The noun belō ("worn things, rags") appears in Jer 38:11–12. Isaiah 51:6, "the earth will wear out like a garment", shows how natural the clothing image was.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

Genesis 18:12 בְלֹתִי֙ am worn out I

So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Here: "My being worn out." Hebrew normally uses this word for clothes and sandals that are threadbare (Deut 8:4; Josh 9:13). Sarah pictures her body as a garment worn thin.

Deuteronomy · 3

Deuteronomy 8:4 בָֽלְתָה֙ it wore out

Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Deuteronomy 29:5 בָל֤וּ בָלְתָ֖ה they wore out, it wore out

For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

Here: 'They wore out', meaning they grew threadbare and fell apart from age and use. It is the normal word for cloth wearing out, and it is used of a worn-out body too (Gen 18:12).

Joshua · 1

Joshua 9:13 בָּל֕וּ they have worn out

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.”

Here: 'Have become worn out, threadbare.' This is the verb used in Deuteronomy for Israel's wilderness clothes that by God's care did not wear out. The Gibeonites say theirs did.

1 Chronicles · 1

1 Chronicles 17:9 לְבַלֹּת֔וֹ to consume it

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

Here: The verb used for clothing worn threadbare. In this form it means to grind someone down, wearing them out by slow attrition. Samuel's version has 'to afflict it' here instead.

Nehemiah · 1

Nehemiah 9:21 בָל֔וּ they wore out

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.

Here: The normal word for fabric going threadbare and falling apart, and also for bodies wearing out with age. The cloaks did not decay the way cloth always does.

Job · 1

Job 13:28 יִבְלֶ֑ה he wears out

So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.

Psalms · 3

Psalm 32:3 בָּל֣וּ they became worn out

When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

Here: "They wore out": the verb used for clothes or sandals falling apart from long use. The speaker's body is pictured like a garment worn thin and threadbare, aging before its time.
Psalm 49:14 לְבַלּ֥וֹת [is] for [the] consuming of

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.

Here: '[Is] for wearing away.' The verb is used for clothes that wear thin and fall apart (Deuteronomy 8:4; Psalm 102:26). Their impressive figure is now just something for Sheol to wear down.
Psalm 102:26 יִבְל֑וּ they will wear out

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.

Here: 'They will wear out': the slow fraying of cloth, sandals or wineskins with use and age. This is decline from age, not sudden destruction.

Isaiah · 3

Isaiah 50:9 יִבְל֔וּ they will wear out

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.
Isaiah 51:6 תִּבְלֶ֔ה it 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.

Here: Gradual wearing out, not a sudden explosion. The ground underfoot is pictured as an old cloak going threadbare. The same words appear in Ps 102:26: 'they will all wear out like a garment'.
Isaiah 65:22 יְבַלּ֥וּ they will use to [the] full

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.

Here: "They will wear out." The form means using something until it is old and worn through. The chosen will outlast what they make and use it to the end, instead of dying early or losing it to someone else.

Lamentations · 1

Lamentations 3:4 בִּלָּ֤ה he has made to waste away

He has worn away my flesh and skin; He has shattered my bones.

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