Belial, Beliar

A common Hebrew noun meaning “baseness,” “worthlessness,” “wickedness,” or “lawlessness.” Belial, however, is often translated as a name. Thus, sometimes it is translated as “sons of Belial” (Judges 19:22; 1 Samuel 2:12), “daughter of Belial” (1 Samuel 1:16), or “children of Belial” (Deuteronomy 13:13; Judges 20:13). Newer translations generally translate it as “worthless rabble” or "worthless” (Deuteronomy 13:13; Judges 19:22; 20:13; 1 Samuel 1:16; 2:12; 10:27; Proverbs 6:12). One exception is in Nahum 1:15, which some scholars think should be translated “Belial.” This is a personal name of the Assyrian conqueror who threatened to the southern kingdom of Judah.

Texts from between the two Testaments use “Belial” as a name and influenced how it is used in the New Testament. In the New Testament, the term appears once as “Belial” (or Beliar in 2 Corinthians 6:15) and is identified with Satan, the representation of evil. Nonbiblical writings from the New Testament period often used Belial as a name for Satan or the Antichrist.