(Gr. diabolos), a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man's spiritual interest ( Job 1:6 ; Revelation 2:10 ; Zechariah 3:1 ). He is called also "the accuser of the brethen" ( Revelation 12:10 ).

In Leviticus 17:7 the word "devil" is the translation of the Hebrew sair , meaning a "goat" or "satyr" ( Isaiah 13:21 ; 34:14 ), alluding to the wood-daemons, the objects of idolatrous worship among the heathen.

In Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalms 106:37 it is the translation of Hebrew shed , meaning lord, and idol, regarded by the Jews as a "demon," as the word is rendered in the Revised Version.

In the narratives of the Gospels regarding the "casting out of devils" a different Greek word (daimon) is used. In the time of our Lord there were frequent cases of demoniacal possession ( Matthew 12:25-30 ; Mark 5:1-20 ; Luke 4:35 ; 10:18 , etc.).

These dictionary topics are from
M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition,
published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy freely.