Hebrew word · H928

בֶּֽהָלָה

behalah

dismay

Sudden terror, panic, dismay; by extension a sudden catastrophe or ruin. From bahal, 'to be disturbed, terrified, hurried'. The idea of abruptness is built into the root.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

dismay, sudden terror or ruin, alarm

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 Isaiah 65:23

Range of meaning

Sudden terror, panic, dismay; by extension a sudden catastrophe or ruin. From bahal, 'to be disturbed, terrified, hurried'. The idea of abruptness is built into the root.

Against the English

KJV 'trouble' now sounds like ordinary difficulty. BSB 'disaster', ESV 'calamity' and NIV 'misfortune' are closer but lose the sense of sudden terror. The word pictures the parent's panic when catastrophe strikes without warning.

How it drifted

In 1611 'trouble' was a stronger word (disturbance, affliction). It has softened in modern English into everyday bother.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 26:16: 'I will appoint over you behalah', the curse that opens the list where lariq also appears. Psalm 78:33: 'he ended their days in emptiness and their years in behalah'. Jeremiah 15:8: sudden 'anguish and terrors' falling on the mother of young men. Zephaniah 1:18 uses the related verb for a 'sudden end'.

From the study of Leviticus 26:16

Range of meaning

Sudden alarm, panic, dismay, and by extension a sudden disaster that causes it. It comes from the root bahal: as passive 'be terrified, disturbed' (Exod 15:15; Ps 6:2–3), as active 'terrify' or 'hurry'. In later Hebrew bahal mostly means to hurry.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'terror', BSB/NIV 'sudden terror', ESV 'panic', YLT 'trouble'. 'Sudden terror' best captures both alarm and abruptness.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 65:23 (bearing children 'for sudden calamity'), Jer 15:8 ('anguish and terrors' falling suddenly), Ps 78:33 (years spent 'in terror'). The Vulgate's 'velociter' ('swiftly') picks up the root's sense of haste.

From the study of Psalm 78:33

Range of meaning

Sudden terror, dismay, panic, and also a sudden disaster that causes it. The root b-h-l means to be terrified or thrown into confusion, and in some forms to hurry (Esth 6:14; Prov 28:22). So the word has a sense of suddenness in it.

Against the English

KJV and YLT say 'trouble', which is too weak and too general. WEB says 'terror'. BSB and NASB say 'sudden terror', which gets both the fear and the suddenness.

How it drifted

'Trouble' was a stronger word in older English (it could mean real distress), but today it sounds like hassle or difficulty. Most of the panic is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 26:16, in the covenant curses: 'I will appoint over you behalah', the sudden terror that comes on Israel if it is unfaithful. Isa 65:23 (children born 'for sudden disaster'); Jer 15:8 ('anguish and terror' falling suddenly). The same root is in Ps 90:7, 'by your wrath we are dismayed (nivhalnu)'.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 26:16 בֶּֽהָלָה֙ sudden terror

    then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

    Here: Sudden, unnerving panic or disaster. The root carries both alarm and haste. It may head the list or sum up what follows (see debates).

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 78:33 בַּבֶּהָלָֽה׃ in <the> sudden terror

    So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

    Here: The panic or sudden ruin that falls on people without warning. It sounds like hevel (ba-hevel / ba-behalah), so the line ends on an echo: their lives drained away like vapor and ended in panic.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 65:23 לַבֶּהָלָ֑ה for <the> sudden terror

    They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to disaster; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD—they and their descendants with them.

    Here: 'For sudden terror': children born only to be swept away by abrupt catastrophe such as war, plague, early death or being carried off. It is another Leviticus 26:16 curse word.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 15:8 וּבֶהָלֽוֹת׃ and sudden terror

    I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.

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