HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H1170
בַּעַל בְּרִית
ba.al be.rit — Baal-berith
§ Baal-berith = "lord of the covenant" a god of the Philistines
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Baal-berith
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H1286
בְּרִית
be.rit — (Baal)-berith
Berith = "covenant" in the name of Baal-berith, a foreign deity worshipped in Shechem Combined with el (אֵל "El" H0410H)
1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →Historical dictionary entry
Covenant lord, the name of the god worshipped in Shechem after the death of Gideon (Judg. 8:33; 9:4). In 9:46 he is called simply “the god Berith.” The name denotes the god of the covenant into which the Israelites entered with the Canaanites, contrary to the command of Jehovah (Ex. 34:12), when they began to fall away to the worship of idols.
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.