Definition

without profit, worthlessness; by extension, destruction, wickedness

Etymology

from H1097 (בְּלִי) and H3276 (יַעַל);(often in connection with H376 (אִישׁ), H802 (אִשָּׁה), H1121 (בֵּן), etc.)

Where the KJV renders it

• Belial
• evil
• naughty
• ungodly (men)
• wicked

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.