Beriah

Beriah (meaning: in fellowship or in evil) is a name borne by four men in the Old Testament, the name's dual meaning possibly reflecting the varying circumstances of their birth. The most prominent is Beriah the son of Asher, one of the seventy souls who went down to Egypt with Jacob. His descendants—the Beriites—are numbered in the Mosaic census and formed part of the tribe of Asher's settlement in northern Canaan.

A second Beriah was a son of Ephraim, born after his father had mourned the slaughter of his sons by the men of Gath; the name was given because it went evil with his house at that time. Two more men named Beriah appear in Benjamite and Levitical genealogies in Chronicles. Together these figures span several tribes and periods, making Beriah one of the more widely distributed personal names in the Old Testament genealogical traditions.