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Bible Lexicons
Old Testament Hebrew Lexical Dictionary Hebrew Lexicon
Strong's #1100 - בְּלִיַּעַל
- Brown-Driver-Briggs
- Strong
- worthlessness
- worthless, good for nothing, unprofitable, base fellow
- wicked
- ruin, destruction (construct)
- Book
- Word
did not use
this Strong's Number
1 abstract אִישׁ(ה)בליעל, אַנְשֵׁי הבליעל, worthless, good-for-nothing, base fellows 1 Samuel 25:25; 2 Samuel 16:7; 2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings 21:13; Proverbs 16:27; = ׳בֶּןבֿ 1 Samuel 25:17, ׳בְּנֵי ב Deuteronomy 13:14; Judges 19:22; Judges 20:13; 1 Samuel 2:12; 1 Samuel 10:27; 1 Kings 21:10,13; 2 Chronicles 13:7; ׳בַּת ב 1 Samuel 1:16 (drunken woman); ׳עֵד ב base witness Proverbs 19:28; ׳דְּבַר ב base, wicked thing Psalm 41:9 (yet compare 3 below), Psalm 101:3 (add probably also 1 Samuel 29:10, so ᵐ5 We Dr); ׳דָּבָרב֗֗֗ (elliptical and in apposition) Deuteronomy 15:9.
2 concrete elliptical of ׳אישׁ ב 2 Samuel 23:6; Job 34:18; כָּלאִֿישׁ רַע וּבְלִיַּעַל 1 Samuel 30:22; אָדָם בְּלִיַּעַל Proverbs 6:12.
3 ruin, destruction: so Psalm 41:9 according to De Che and others, but see above; ׳יֹעֵץ ב counsellor of ruin Nahum 1:11; ׳ב alone a man of ruin, destroyer Nahum 2:1; ׳נַחֲלֵי ב floods of destruction ("" שְׁאוֺל) 2 Samuel 22:5 = Psalm 18:5.
בְּלִיַּעַל (comp. of בְּלִי not, without, and יַעַל benefit, profit, compare הוֹעִיל to be useful, and Arab. وَعْلُ and وَِعلُ i.q. شريف noble, prince; and not as said by Fischer, in Proluss. De Verss. Græc. p. 93, from בְּלִי and עוֹל a yoke, as if impatience of the yoke, contumacy) pr. unprofitableness, worthlessness, what is useless, of no fruit (compare Arabic غير طايل useless, of no profit, little worth). Hence
(1) wickedness, vileness; אִישׁ בְּלִיַּעַל “a wicked man.” 1 Samuel 25:25, 30:22 אָדָם בְּלִיַּעַל Proverbs 6:12, and בֶּן־בְּלִיַּעַל 1 Samuel 25:17 id. Pl. often בְּנֵי־בְלִיַּעַל 1 Samuel 2:12, and אֲנָשִׁים בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַלּ, אַנְשֵׁי בְנֵי בְלִיַּעַל Deuteronomy 13:14; Judges 19:22, 20:13. בַּת בְּלִיַּעַל “a wicked woman,” 1 Samuel 1:16 דְּבַר בְּלִיַּעַל “an evil, wicked thing,” Psalms 41:9, 101:3 compare Deuteronomy 15:9. פֶּן יִהְיֶה דָבָר עִם לְבָֽבְךָ בְלִיַּעַל “lest there arise a wicked thought in thy heart.”
(2) destruction, Nahum 1:11, יוֹעֵץ בְּלִיַעַל “who plans destruction;” Psalms 18:5, נַהֲלֵי בְלִיַּעַל יְבַעֲתוּנִי “the streams of destruction make me afraid” a metaphor taken from waves, which is not unfrequent in the sacred writers. LXX. χείμαῤῥοι ἀνομίας, i.e. enemies rushing like torrents. Some moderns incorrectly render “torrents of hell.”
(3) Ellipt. for אִישׁ בְּלִיַּעַל a wicked man (see No. 1), 2 Samuel 23:6; Job 34:18, a destroyer, causer of destruction.
[“Note. Hence was derived in later usage and in New Test. the pr.n. Βελίαλ, or Βελιάρ, Belial, i.q. ὁ πονηρὸς, Satan. The English version also gives בְּלִיַּעַל in the Old Test. as a pr.n. Belial, but incorrectly[?]. See Thes. page 210.”]
