Devil (Gr. diabolos ), a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man’s spiritual interest (Job 1:6; Rev 2:10; Zac 3:1). He is called also “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev 12:10). In Lev 17:7 the word “devil” is the translation of the Hebrew sair, meaning a “goat” or “satyr” (Isa 13:21; Isa 34:14), alluding to the wood-daemons, the objects of idolatrous worship among the heathen. In Deu 32:17 and Psa 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 (Mat 12:25; Mark 5:1-20; Luk 4:35; Luk 10:18, etc.).
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