בְּלִיַּעַל
bᵉlîyaʻal · H1100 · Hebrew · 27 occurrences
Meanings
-
wicked, scoundrel, useless person, good-for-nothing
Possible literal meaning: without benefit or without success; hence: state in which someone is considered an objectional human being who is engaged in evil behavior and does not contribute to the society in a positive way
ExamplesDeuteronomy 15:9 “Be careful that there is no mean-spirited thought in your heart, such as, ‘The seventh year, the year of release of debts, is near,’ and your eye is malicious toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry out to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you.
Judges 19:22 While they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, certain worthless men, surrounded the house, pushing one another at the door; and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who entered your house that we may have relations with him.”
Judges 20:13 “Now then, turn over the men, the worthless men who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and remove this wickedness from Israel.” But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.
-
deadly, fatal
State that is likely to result in death as a consequence of bad behavior
Examples2 Samuel 22:5 “For the waves of death encompassed me; The floods of destruction terrified me;
Psalm 18:4 The ropes of death encompassed me, And the torrents of destruction terrified me.
Psalm 41:8 “A wicked thing is poured out upon him, So that when he lies down, he will not get up again.”
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
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- זֶהthis 1
What it doesIt is the subject
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- יָסַףto add 1
- עָנָהto answer 1
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- הָיָהto be, to become 1
- אָמַרto say 1
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
22 occurrences in 8 groups
- בֵּןson 9
- אִישׁman, person, each 5
- דָּבָרword, thing, matter 2
- נַחַלstream, valley, wadi 2
- אָדָםhuman, humankind, human being(s) 1
- בַּתdaughter 1
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.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Evil002001002007
- The word denotes worthlessness or wickedness, as the men who surround the house in Judges 19:22 are called 'certain worthless men' bent on evil, fitting this domain's core sense of moral wickedness.
- Dead002001001018
- The word's underlying sense carries a connotation of ruin or destruction associated with the sphere of death, an extended meaning connecting it to this domain's category for death and the realm associated with it.
Word family 13 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H1100. beliyyaal בְּלִיַּ֫עַל27 noun [masculine] worthlessness (compound בְּלִי not,…
בְּלִיַּ֫עַל27 noun [masculine] worthlessness (compound בְּלִי not, without and יַעַל worth, use, profit) — ׳בּ Deu 13:14 20t.; בְּלִיָּ֑עַל Psa 101:3 Psa 101:5t.; — the quality of being useless, good for nothing.
1 abstract הבליעל אַנְשֵׁי (ה)בליעל, אִישׁ, worthless, good-for-nothing, base fellows 1Sa 25:25; 2Sa 16:7; 2Sa 20:1; 1Ki 21:13; Pro 16:27; = ׳בֶּןבֿ 1Sa 25:17, ב ׳בְּנֵי Deu 13:14; Jdg 19:22; Jdg 20:13; 1Sa 2:12; 1Sa 10:27; 1Ki 21:10, 1Ki 21:13; 2Ch 13:7; ב ׳בַּת 1Sa 1:16 (drunken woman); ב ׳עֵד base witness Pro 19:28; ב ׳דְּבַר base, wicked thing Psa 41:9 (yet compare 3 below), Psa 101:3 (add probably also 1Sa 29:10, so ᵐ5 We Dr); ׳דָּבָרב֗֗֗ (elliptical and in apposition) Deu 15:9.
2 concrete elliptical of ב ׳אישׁ 2Sa 23:6; Job 34:18; וּבְלִיַּעַל רַע כָּלאִֿישׁ 1Sa 30:22; בְּלִיַּעַל אָדָם Pro 6:12.
3 ruin, destruction: so Psa 41:9 according to De Che and others, but see above; ב ׳יֹעֵץ counsellor of ruin Nah 1:11; ׳ב alone a man of ruin, destroyer Nah 2:1; ב ׳נַחֲלֵי floods of destruction (|| שְׁאוֺל) 2Sa 22:5 = Psa 18:5.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
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
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