Bible Dictionary
FAIL
To fall short, cease, be lacking, perish, or become exhausted. In the New Testament, faith and love are especially contrasted with things that fail or pass away.
Definition
To fail is to fall short, be lacking, cease, end, be consumed, perish, become faint, or be exhausted. The word may be intransitive, describing something that fails, or transitive, describing something made lacking.
Biblical Usage
Scripture speaks of failing strength, succession, visions, refuge, and human courage. In the New Testament faith and love are contrasted with things that fail or pass away, while God’s promises and Christ’s years do not fail.
Historical Background
The term translates many Hebrew and Greek words meaning consumed, cut off, lacking, faint, lost, left out, fallen away, useless, or behind. Revised translations often clarify the precise sense as perish, stumble, be slack, or be lacking.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>fal (kalah, karath; ekleipo): "Fail" is both intransitive, "to fall short," "be wanting," and trans, "to be wanting to."</p><p>Of the many words translated "fail" in the Old Testament, kalah is the most frequent, meaning "to be consumed," "ended" (Job 11:20; 17:5; Ps 69:3; 71:9, etc.; Pr 22:8; Isa 15:6, etc.; Jer 14:6; La 2:11; 3:22; 4:17); it is the translation of karath, "to be cut off" (2Sa 3:29, of failure in succession; so 1Ki 2:4, etc.); `adhar, "to marshal," "to be missed" or "lacking" (Isa 34:16 the King James Version; Isa 40:26 the King James Version; Isa 59:15 the King James Version; Ze 3:5); of raphah, "to become faint" or "to make feeble" (De 31:6,8; "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee," Jos 1:5; 1Ch 28:20); of '-abhadh, "to perish," "be lost" (Ps 142:4, "Refuge hath failed me"; Eze 12:22, "Every vision faileth"). Many other Hebrew words are translated "fail," "faileth," for the most part in single instances.</p><p>In the New Testament, ekleipo, "to leave out" or "off," is thrice rendered "fail" (Lu 16:9 "when it shall fail"; Lu 22:32, "that thy faith fail not"; Heb 1:12, "Thy years shall not fail"); ekpipto, "to fall off or away" (1Co 13:8, "Charity (the Revised Version (British and American) "love") never faileth"); katargeo, "to make useless" (1Co 13:8 the King James Version, "Whether prophecies, they shall fail"); hustereo, "to be behind," "to lack" (Heb 12:15 the King James Version); apopsucho, "to swoon away," "failing" (Lu 21:26 the King James Version).</p><p>The Revised Version (British and American) has "fail," in a new translation of Jer 18:14, for "fall" (La 1:14, margin "stumble"); "his hand fail" for "fallen in decay" (Le 25:35); "I will in no wise fail thee" for "I will never leave thee" (Heb 13:5; compare De 31:6; Jos 1:5); "failed to enter" for "entered not" (Heb 4:6); "faileth" (American Standard Revised Version) for "ceaseth" (Ps 49:8), the English Revised Version "must be let alone for ever"; "failing" for "was darkened" (Lu 23:45); for "fail" (Ezr 4:22), "be slack," "be missing" (Isa 34:16); "falleth short of" (Heb 12:15, maqrgin, "falleth bacf from"); for "failed," "was all spent" (Ge 47:15); "wholly" (Jos 3:16); "fail (in looking)" (La 4:17); for "faileth," "is lacking" (Isa 40:26; 59:15); for "men's hearts failing them" (Lu 21:26), "men fainting," margin "expiring."</p><p>W. L. Walker</p>