Belial

[ bee-lee-uhl, beel-yuhl ]

noun

1. Theology. the spirit of evil personified; the devil; Satan.
2. (in Milton's Paradise Lost ) one of the fallen angels.

Belial

/ ˈbiːlɪəl /

noun

1. a demon mentioned frequently in apocalyptic literature: identified in the Christian tradition with the devil or Satan
2. (in the Old Testament and rabbinical literature) worthlessness or wickedness

Word History and Origins

Origin of Belial¹

< Hebrew bəliyyaʿal, equivalent to bəlī without + yaʿal, worth, use

Word History and Origins

Origin of Belial¹

C13: from Hebrew bəlīyya`al , from bəlīy without + ya`al worth

Example Sentences

Eunuch priests of the devil-figure Belial squat at the top of the caste system in this stunted world, dominating a society of near-slaves.

From Nature

This manifests as mass gropings; any progeny deemed too monstrous, the result of radiation-damaged genes, are then slaughtered on Belial Eve.

From Nature

“We need to be inclusive and welcoming to all that is human,” Sarah said at a Vatican gathering last year, in a denunciation of Francis’s proposals, “but what comes from the Enemy cannot and must not be assimilated. You can not join Christ and Belial! What Nazi-Fascism and Communism were in the 20th century, Western homosexual and abortion Ideologies and Islamic Fanaticism are today.”

From The Guardian

When Milton’s devils can sing so beautifully that their listeners forget they are in hell, when the devil Belial rejects extinction, “for who would lose, / Though full of pain, this intellectual being, / Those thoughts that wander through eternity,” the poet may have in mind the Hebrew merism “good and bad,” which encompasses both and all that lies between, complicating the stark English binary “good and evil.”

From New York Times

The Messiah, the Teacher of Righteousness, is opposed to a Demon of Evil, most frequently known as Belial or Beliar.

From The New Yorker