Some Philological Notes on the Sons of Belial and the Septuagint

Abstract

This paper studies the Septuagint translations of the Biblical Hebrew word בליעל and derived constructions, with a focus on the term λοιμός, which I propose as the Old Greek translation in the books of Samuel. The meaning of the word (and its relevance for the study of the reading and interpretation traditions around בליעל in turn of the era Judaism) is examined in the context of other evidence around the time of the Septuagint, such as Dead Sea Scrolls and Pseudoepigrapha. The picture defined by this comparison seems to indicate that, among part of the Septuagint tradition and other literatures, the word did present some cosmic-supernatural features of negativity which connect with ancient Near Eastern mythological elements.