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# בְּלִיַּעַל

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H1100

**worthlessness** — used 27 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

worthlessness [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1100/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

בְּלִיַּ֫עַל: worthlessness [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1100/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.\[m.\] worthlessness (cpd. בְּלִי not, without and יַעַל worth, use, profit)—בּ׳ Dt 13:14 + 20 times; בְּלִיָּ֑עַל ψ 101:3 + 5 times;—the quality of being useless, good for nothing. abstr. אִישׁ (ה)בליעל, אַנְשֵׁי הבליעל, worthless, good-for-nothing, base fellows 1 S 25:25; 2 S 16:7; 20:1; 1 K 21:13; Pr 16:27; = בֶּן־ב׳ 1 S 25:17, בְּנֵי ב׳ Dt 13:14; Ju 19:22; 20:13; 1 S 2:12; 10:27; 1 K 21:10, 13; 2 Ch 13:7; בַּת ב׳ 1 S 1:16 (drunken woman); עֵד ב׳ base witness Pr 19:28; דְּבַר ב׳ base, wicked thing ψ 41:9 (yet cf. 3 infr.), 101:3 (add prob. also 1 S 29:10, so 𝔊 We Dr); דָּבָר … ב׳ (elliptical and in apposition) Dt 15:9. concr. elliptical of אישׁ ב׳ 2 S 23:6 Jb 34:18; כָּל־אִישׁ רַע וּבְלִיַּעַל 1 S 30:22; אָדָם בְּלִיַּעַל Pr 6:12. ruin, destruction: so ψ 41:9 according to De Che al., but v. supr.; יֹעֵץ ב׳ counsellor of ruin Na 1:11; ב׳ alone a man of ruin, destroyer Na 2:1; נַחֲלֵי ב׳ floods of destruction (‖ שְׁאוֹל) 2 S 22:5 = ψ 18:5.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 26 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (2 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (1 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: of worthlessness (19); worthlessness (5); a worthless person (2).

## In the verses

[Proverbs 6:12](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.6.12/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.6.12/#tree)

אָדָ֣ם בְּ֭לִיַּעַל אִ֣ישׁ אָ֑וֶן ה֝וֹלֵ֗ךְ עִקְּשׁ֥וּת פֶּֽה׃

*Word for word:* a.person of.worthlessness a.person of.wickedness \[is\].walking crookedness of.mouth

*JPS 1917:* A base person, a man of iniquity, is he that walketh with a froward mouth;

[Job 34:18](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.34.18/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.34.18/#tree)

הַאֲמֹ֣ר לְמֶ֣לֶךְ בְּלִיָּ֑עַל רָ֝שָׁ֗ע אֶל־נְדִיבִֽים׃

*Word for word:* to say? to a.king worthless.person wicked.\[one\] to noble.\[people\]

*JPS 1917:* Is it fit to say to a king: 'Thou art base'? Or to nobles: 'Ye are wicked'? —

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1100/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).