Strong's Definition
a primitive root; to make away with (specifically by swallowing); generally, to destroy
KJV Usage: cover, destroy, devour, eat up, be at end, spend up, swallow down (up)
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Hebrew Lexicon
בָּלַע (ba.la) — to swallow up. 1) to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to swallow down 1a2) to swallow up, engulf 1b) (Niphal) to be swallowed up 1c) (Piel) 1c1) to swallow 1c2) to swallow up, engulf 1c3) squandering (fig.) 1d) (Pual) to be swallowed up 1e) (Hithpael) to be ended
UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew
verb · בֶּלַע
Ingest | verb qal, verb pi, verb nif | ≈ אכל | ≠ קיא
to swallow, to swallow up = action by which humans or animals cause food to pass down from their mouth to their esophagus; ≈ often used figuratively to denote destruction and death
GEN 41:7 · GEN 41:24 · EXO 7:12 · EXO 15:12 · NUM 4:20 · NUM 16:30 · NUM 16:32 · NUM 16:34 · NUM 26:10 · DEU 11:6 · JOB 7:19 · JOB 20:15 · JOB 20:18 · PSA 69:16 · PSA 106:17 · PSA 124:3 · PRO 1:12 · PRO 19:28 · PRO 21:20 · ISA 28:4 · JER 51:34 · HOS 8:7 · HOS 8:8 · JON 2:1
Non-Exist | verb pi, verb pu'al | ≈ אכל
to swallow up, to destroy = causative action by which deities or humans cause other humans and objects to be removed from existence in a violent way, as if by swallowing up, either by direct intervention or by accomplishing this through the hands of others
2SA 17:16 · 2SA 20:19 · 2SA 20:20 · JOB 2:3 · JOB 8:18 · JOB 10:8 · JOB 37:20 · PSA 21:10 · PSA 35:25 · PSA 55:10 · ECC 10:12 · ISA 25:7 · ISA 25:8 · ISA 49:19 · LAM 2:2 · LAM 2:5 · LAM 2:5 · LAM 2:8 · LAM 2:16 · HAB 1:13
Fail | verb hit
to be to no avail exact meaning unsure; possibly: = state in which a mind event does not produce the expected outcome, as if one's senses have been destroyed
Fail | verb pi
to confuse, to confound, to frustrate exact meaning unsure; possibly: = causative action by which someone causes a mind event not to produce the expected outcome
1 JER 51:34 MT-K בלענו | MT-Q בְּלָעַנִי 2 2SA 17:16 HALOT DCH "to be communicated" 3 JOB 37:20 RSV NIV NRSV ESV "swallowed up" GNT "destroy" Pope "be devoured" = [1b] | NJPS "he is confused" = [1e] | NJB "to take it in" = [1a] | REB "to make proclamation" HALOT "to be communicated" 4 PSA 55:10 NJPS "confound" NRSV GNT CEV "confuse" REB "frustrate" = [1d] | RSV ESV Dahood "destroy" = [1b] | NJB "destructive" = בֶּלַע
UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon
בָּלַע vb. swallow down, swallow up, engulf Qal swallow down
swallow up, engulf
Niph. swallowed up, i.e. devastated
Pi. swallow
swallow up, engulf
Pu. be swallowed up
Hithp. their wisdom is all gone, ‘they are at their wit’s end’
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