Word

בָּלַל

bâlal · H1101 · Hebrew · 43 occurrences

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Meanings

to mix

Causative action by which people combine different ingredients into one single mass; sometimes associated with confusion

Examples
Exodus 29:2 and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour.
Exodus 29:40 and there shall be a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb.
Leviticus 2:4 ‘Now when you bring an offering of a grain offering baked in an oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil.
Action by which people mix with other groups of people and adapt their ways of thinking and practices (to mix (oneself) with (other people))

Examples
Hosea 7:8 Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations; Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.
to be anointed

The process by which fresh oil is poured over someone's head, possibly in analogy to the oil poured over the grain offering and possibly to distinguish the person with the honor of a special calling

Examples
Psalm 92:10 But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil.
to confuse

Literally: to mix language; hence: action by which a divine being changes a language in such a way that it is no longer understood; as if it were changed from a well ordered system into an unordered mass

Examples
Genesis 11:7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
Genesis 11:9 Therefore it was named Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

How it’s used In 4 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Who or what does itSubject

43 occurrences in 6 groups

Not stated (participle) 38
הוּאhe, she, it 1
יְהֹוָהthe LORD, YHWH 1
Not stated: we 1
Not stated: I 1
Not stated: he, she or it 1

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

2 occurrences in 1 groups

שָׂפָהlip 2

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

41 occurrences in 4 groups

בin/on/with+ שֶׁמֶןoil 38
בin/on/with+ הִיןhin 1
בin/on/with+ עַםpeople 1
לto/for+ חֲמוֹרdonkey 1

With adverbsAdverbs

2 occurrences in 1 groups

שָׁםthere 2

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Near synonyms 4 words

מָהַל mâhal · H4107 · to be mixed: Both lexemes denote mixing or mingling. The target is the more frequent term with a broad semantic range including 'to mingle, to mix,' while מהל is a rare word ('mixed') that appears genuinely synonymous in its core sense of mixing.
סוּךְ çûwk · H5480 · to anoint oneself (with oil), to rub (oil) on oneself, to anoint (someone with oil): Both lexemes denote anointing or rubbing actions in a shared 'rubbing' sense. The target's semantic range is considerably broader, centering primarily on mixing, mingling, or confounding (with anointing as one sense among many), while סוּךְ focuses specifically on anointing. The overlap is real but limited to this shared anointing and rubbing context.
מָסַךְ mâçak · H4537 · to mix, to mingle, to mix within: Both words denote actions of mixing or mingling. They are distinct Hebrew roots with overlapping meaning in this sense.
רָקַח râqach · H7543 · to mix (spices), to mix ointment: Both words denote mixing or blending; רקח is specialized to preparing ointments, spices, or perfumes, while the target covers a broader range of mixing, mingling, confounding, and fading.

Semantic domains 3 entries

Mixed002003001012: The verb's core sense is to mix or blend substances together, as unleavened cakes are made 'mixed with oil' in Exodus 29:2, fitting this domain's central meaning of combination.
Rub002003001016: The mixing process for the anointed cakes involves working oil into the flour by hand, an action connected to this domain's sense of physical rubbing or working a substance into another.
Change002001003002: In its most famous use the verb describes God confusing human language at Babel, transforming a single tongue into many, as in Genesis 11:7 and 11:9, fitting this domain's sense of a state being altered or changed.

Word family 3 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

בָּלַלbâlal · H1101בְּלִיל bᵉlîyl · H1098 · fodder · 3×תְּבַּלֻּל tᵉballul · H8400 · blemish, spot, growth · 1×

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H1101. balal I. בָּלַל verb mingle, mix, confuse, confound (Arabic moisten (with water),…

H1101. balal
I. בָּלַל verb mingle, mix, confuse, confound (Arabic moisten (with water), compare moisture, Assyrian balâlu, DlPr 70; compare Phoenician בלל name of a sacrifice, & Late Hebrew בִּלְבֵּל; Aramaic בַּלְבֵּל, ) —
Qal Perfect בָּלַל Gen 11:9, ַבּלֹּתִָּֽי Psa 92:11 (but compare below); Imperfect1plural נָָֽבְלָה = נָכֹ֫לָּה Gen 11:7, compare Köi. 325; Participle passive בָּלוּל Exo 29:40 Exo 29:3t., בְּלוּלָה Lev 2:5 28t., בְּלוּלֹת Exo 29:2 Exo 29:4t.; —
1 mingle, confuse (object שָׂפָה = speech, language, q. v.) Gen 11:7, Gen 11:9 (J).
2 mix (cakes or flour, etc. always with oil) technical term of sacrifice, only P (H Lev 23:13), compare Di on Lev 2:4; usually as בּ ׳סֹלֶת ׳בַּשֶּׁמֶן מנחה, Exo 29:40; Lev 2:5; Lev 14:10, Lev 14:21; Lev 23:13; Num 7:13, Num 7:19, Num 7:25, Num 7:31, Num 7:37, Num 7:43, Num 7:49, Num 7:55, Num 7:61, Num 7:67, 73, 79; Num 8:8; Num 15:4, Num 15:6, Num 15:9; Num 28:5, Num 28:9, Num 28:12 (twice in verse); Num 28:13; Num 28:20; Num 28:28; Num 29:3; Num 23:9; Num 23:14, ב ׳מנחה ׳בשׁ Lev 7:10 (opposed to חֲרֵבָה) Lev 9:4, ב מַצּוֺת ׳חַלּוֺת ׳בשׁ Exo 29:2; Lev 7:12 (twice in verse), i.e. made by mixing with oil; ב מצות ׳חלות ׳בשׁ סלת Lev 2:4, ב חלות ׳סלת ׳בשׁ Num 6:15, i.e. fine flour (in the form) of cakes so made. רַעֲנָן בְּשֶׁמֶן ַבּלֹּתִָּֽי Psa 92:11 I shall be (am) anointed with fresh oil AV RV; verb not elsewhere in this sense; ᵑ9 ᵐ5 Hup Che read בְּלֹתִי from בלה, infinitive construct suffix, abstract for concrete, my wasting = my wasting strength, of declining age; Israel under figure of old man; this however is not favoured by context. The passage is therefore doubtful.
Hithpo`el Imperfect יִתְבּוֺלָ֑ל Hos 7:8; י הוא בעמים ׳אפרים Ephraim, among the peoples doth he mix himself; but Ew Now derive here from בלל = בלה (or נבל) waste away, compare Hiph`il
Hiph`il Imperfect וַנָּ֫בֶל Isa 64:5 and we faded away, but read perhaps וַנִּכֹּל from נבל compare Di (De, less probably, derives from בלל — compare Ew Now Hos 7:8 — or בול = נבל).
II. [בָּלַל] verb denominative to give provender —
Qal Imperfect וַיָּ֑בָל Jdg 19:21 Qr (Kt ויבול) followed by לְ give provender to the asses.

Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain

Topical studies with this word 3 entries

Change2 occurrences Mixed40 occurrences Rub1 occurrence

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0