Βάαλ

English (Abbott-Smith)

Βάαλ (Rec. βαάλ) , ὁ, ἡ, indecl. (Heb. בַּעַל, lord),
Baal: Ro 11:4 (LXX). The fem. art. here agrees with the usage of LXX, where, following a similar Hebrew practice (בֹּשֶׁת for בַּעַל), αἰσχύνη appears to have been substituted in reading for the written Βάαλ (cf. III Ki 18:19), and to account for the freq. use of the fem. art. bef. Β. The usage, however, is not general, and in the passage cited in Ro (III Ki 19:18), LXX reads τῷ Β.†

English (Strong)

of Hebrew origin (בַּ֫עַל); Baal, a Phœnician deity (used as a symbol of idolatry): Baal.

English (Thayer)

(so accented also by Pape (Eigenn. under the word), Kuenen and Cobet (Rom. as below); but L T (yet the name of the month, Βάαλ) Tr WH etc. Βάαλ; so Etym. Magn. 194,19; Suidas 1746a. etc. Dindorf in Stephanus' Thesaurus, under the word Βάαλ or Βάαλ), ὁ, ἡ, an indeclinable noun (Hebrew בַּעַל, Chaldean בּל contracted from בְּעֵל), lord: τῇ Βάαλ, Winer s RWB (and BB. DD.) under the word and J. G. Müller in Herzog i., p. 637ff; Merx in Schenkel i., 322ff; Schlottmann in Riehm, p. 126f. Since in this form the supreme power of nature generating all things, and consequently a male deity, was worshipped, with which the female deity Astarte was associated, it is hard to explain why the Sept. in some places say ὁ Βάαλ (ἡ Βάαλ (Sept. called the deity ἡ Βάαλ in derision, as weak and impotent, just as the Arabs call idols goddesses and the rabbis אֱלֹהות; so Gesenius in Rosenmüller's Repert. i., p. 139 and Tholuck on Romans , the passage cited; (yet cf. Dillmann, as below, p. 602; for other opinions and references see Meyer at the passage; cf. Winer's Grammar, § 27,6 N. 1. But Prof. Dillmann shows (in the Monatsbericht d. Akad. zu Berlin, 16 Juni 1881, p. 601ff), that the Jews (just as they abstained from pronouncing the word Jehovah) avoided uttering the abhorred name of Βάαλ (טעות, דחלא or פתכרא, and in Greek αἰσχύνη (cf. Sept., ἡ Βάαλ everywhere in the prophetic books Jeremiah , Zephaniah , Hosea , etc., while in the Pentateuch it does not prevail, nor even in Judges , Samuel, Kings (except Aq., Symm., etc. The apostle's use in Romans , the passage cited accords with the sacred custom; cf. the substitution of the Hebrew בֹּשֶׁת in Ish-bosheth, Mephi-bosheth, etc. Judges 6:32; etc.)