Bible Word Study
בָּלָה
Bâlâh · Balah, a place in Palestine
בָּלָה
Balah, a place in Palestine
Definition
Balah is a proper noun referring to a town in the territory allotted to the tribe of Simeon, as recorded in the book of Joshua. It is listed among the cities within the inheritance of Simeon, which was located within the larger tribal territory of Judah (Joshua 19:1-9). The single biblical mention provides its primary meaning as a specific geographical location in southern Palestine. No other distinct meanings or senses are attested for this word in the biblical text.
Biblical Usage
The word בָּלָה (Bâlâh) is used only once in the Old Testament, in Joshua 19:3. It appears in a list of towns given to the tribe of Simeon. Its usage is strictly geographical and administrative, serving to define the boundaries and possessions of the tribe following the conquest of Canaan. There are no patterns of usage across different books or contexts, as it is a hapax legomenon (a word occurring only once).
Etymology
The name Balah is derived from the Hebrew root בלה (b-l-h), meaning 'to wear out, to become old, to fail.' It is the feminine form of the adjective בָּלֶה (bāleh, H1087), which carries the sense of something worn out or failing. As a place name, it likely describes the character or condition of the location, though the specific reason for the name is not explained in the biblical text. Cognates in other Semitic languages also relate to the concept of decay or wearing away.
Semantic Range
As a place name in the tribal allotment lists, Balah represents the fulfillment of God's promise to give the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel. These detailed geographical records were crucial for establishing identity, inheritance, and community boundaries in ancient Israelite society. The naming of a town with a term meaning 'worn out' or 'failure' might reflect the local topography, soil quality, or a historical event now lost to us, but it underscores how place names often carried descriptive or memorial significance. None of the other towns listed alongside Balah in Joshua 19:3 are direct synonyms, as each is a unique proper noun. However, they are all part of the same semantic field of Simeonite settlements: Hazar-shual (H2704), Ezem (H6107), and Eltolad (H513).
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]