Belial - Christianity

Christianity

In the New Testament the word occurs once, where Paul asks:

• "What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?".(2 Corinthians 6:15)

The spelling found in most manuscripts of 2 Corinthians is actually Beliar (Βελιάρ) not Belial (Βελίαλ). This is the reading preferred by textual scholars and the change of -l to -r is attributed to a common change in Aramaic pronunciation.

The Jewish Greek Septuagint, later the Old Testament of the early Christian church, generally renders the "sons of Belial" verses in the Hebrew Bible either as "lawless men", by idioms "sons of the pest", rather than a personal name "sons of Belial.":

• andres paranomoi" ("lawless men" ἄνδρες παράνομοι) (Deuteronomy 13:13)
• huioi loimoi ("sons of the plague" υἱοὶ λοιμοὶ) (1 Samuel 2:12)

The Septuagint also avoids belial in the singular so Shimei (2 Samuel 16:7) when he cursed David, "Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial" is rendered "you lawless man" (paranomos), and Hannah to Eli "Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial" is rendered "don't count your maidservant as a daughter of the pest" The Latin Vulgate and Syriac Peshitta Old Testaments in some cases follow the Greek, in other literalize as Hebrew. The single New Testament use is preserved "Belial" in Latin and Syriac.