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The Gods of the Bible
Every named divine being in Scripture, what the text calls it, and what the ancient world thought it was.
The devil (diabolos)
The Greek word for slanderer, used interchangeably with Satan.
Matthew 4:1-11, in every translation this tool compares.
Devil is just the Greek word for slanderer. It is what the Greek Old Testament used to translate the Hebrew word for accuser, so the two terms cover the same ground. Centuries of English usage have loaded the word with freight the Greek never carried.
The Greek word means slanderer, and it is what the Septuagint uses to translate satan. The English "devil" carries centuries of freight the Greek doesn't. In classical usage diabolos was an adjective, "slanderous," applied to gossips (the Pastorals still use it that way at 1 Timothy 3:11 and Titus 2:3), before it settled into a name. By the New Testament, Satanas and Diabolos name the same being and trade places freely (compare Mark 1:13 with Luke 4:2), and Hebrews 2:14 gives the devil "the power of death," a role Paul elsewhere assigns to Death and Hades as separate figures.
G1228 (διάβολος), 37 occ
DDD (G. J. Riley) traces the concept's growth after the exile to contact with Persian Zoroastrian dualism, which paired a good spirit and an evil one, each commanding armies of lesser spirits, locked in combat until a final judgment. Second Temple texts joined that framework to the older Near Eastern combat myth (Marduk against Tiamat, Baal against Yam and Mot) and to the Genesis 6 story of angels who fathered giants. In Jubilees 10:1-11 the leader of the fallen Watchers is identified as the devil, and the Testament of Solomon calls Beelzebul "the highest ranking angel in heaven" before his fall. On this reading the devil's rule over "the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2) refers to the region where the demonic spirits of the drowned giants were believed trapped after the Flood.
- Matthew 4:1-11
- John 8:44
- Ephesians 6:11
- 1 Peter 5:8
- 1 John 3:8
- Hebrews 2:14
- 1 Chronicles 21:1
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/ephesians-6-10-12\/","n":"Ephesians 6:10-12","s":"The struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers.","r":"Ephesians 6:10-12"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/john-6-70\/","n":"John 6:70","s":"One of you is a devil. The Greek noun is slanderer, and it has no article here.","r":"John 6:70"}
- G. J. Riley, DDD s.v. "Devil," 244-248
