Hebrew word · H1087

בָּלֶה

balim

old

Worn out, frayed, used up. It comes from the verb balah, 'to wear out' (Deut 8:4: 'your clothing did not wear out').

Appears 5 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

worn out, old

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

Range of meaning: Worn out, frayed, used up. It comes from the verb balah, 'to wear out' (Deut 8:4: 'your clothing did not wear out').
Against the English: 'Old' (KJV, WEB, YLT, BSB for the wineskins) is a little off. The point is visible wear, not age in years. BSB's 'worn-out sacks' is closer.
Used elsewhere in the period: It appears four times in 9:4–5 and again in 9:13 in the Gibeonites' own speech: 'our clothes and sandals are worn out (balu) from the very long journey'.

Range of meaning: Worn out, decayed, used up. It describes cloth, leather and skins that have aged with use (Josh 9:4–5; Jer 38:11–12 'worn-out rags'). The verb is used for garments that 'wear out' (Deut 8:4; Isa 50:9; 51:6; Ps 102:26), and in a figurative sense for bodies and bones wasting away (Ps 32:3; Lam 3:4).
Against the English: 'Old' (KJV, WEB) is weaker than the Hebrew. A garment can be old and still sound. The Hebrew means worn through by use. BSB's 'worn' and 'threadbare' are closer.
Used elsewhere in the period: The key parallel is Deut 29:5 (Hebrew 29:4): 'your cloaks (śalmōtêkem) have not worn out (lōʾ bālû) on you, and your sandal (naʿalkā) has not worn out (lōʾ bālətâ) on your foot (raglekā).' Deut 8:4 and Neh 9:21 say the same. Josh 9:4–5 uses this same group of words: cloak, sandal, foot and 'worn out'.

Joshua · 4

Joshua 9:4 בָּלִים֙ בָּלִ֔ים worn out

acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

Here: 'Worn-out, frayed from use.' The point is wear, not age. The sacks are meant to look as if they have been used on a long road.
Joshua 9:5 בָּל֤וֹת בָּל֖וֹת worn out

They put worn, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies, and their whole supply of bread was dry and moldy.

Here: Worn down by use until nearly useless. The same word comes back a moment later for the clothes. That repetition makes 'worn out' the theme of the whole costume.

Ezekiel · 1

Ezekiel 23:43 לַבָּלָ֖ה of the [woman] worn out

Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’

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