🔼The name Balah: Summary
- Meaning
- Worn Out
- Etymology
- From the verb בלה (balah), to wear out.
🔼The name Balah in the Bible
The name Balah occurs only once in the Bible, in Joshua 19:3, in a list of towns that were situated in the territory allotted to the tribe of Simeon. Because Simeon received land within the territory of Judah, this town was also in Judah.
Balah is probably the same as Bilhah (1 Chronicles 4:29), Baale-judah (2 Samuel 6:2), Kiriath-baal (Joshua 15:60), and Bilhah (1 Chronicles 4:29).
🔼Etymology of the name Balah
The name Balah is possibly a contraction of the name Bilhah, and that name derives of the verb בלה (balah), meaning to wear out:
בלה
Verb בלה (bala) means to wear out, annul or use until worthlessness. Adjective בלה (baleh) means worn out. Noun בלוא (belo) describes worn out things or rags. Noun תבלית (tablit) means annihilation or destruction.
Adverb of negation בל (bal) means not. Noun בלי (beli) describes a wearing out, a destruction or a worthlessness. Noun בלימה (belima) meaning nothingness. Noun בליעל (beliya'al) means worthlessness.
Noun בלהה (ballaha) means terror or calamity, but some scholars insists that this noun stems from a second, yet identical verb בלה (bala II), to trouble. If this verb is not a whole other one, it evidently describes trouble of a courage draining and strength depleting nature.
🔼Balah meaning
For a meaning of the name Balah, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Decayed. Neither NOBSE Study Bible Name List nor BDB Theological Dictionary translates this name.