Bible Dictionary
RIOT
Riot formerly meant unrestrained or profligate behavior, not only violent mob action. Biblical usage includes reckless living, revelry, and disorderly indulgence.
Definition
Riot properly means unrestrained behavior of any kind. In older biblical English it may describe profligate living, reckless indulgence, revelry, or disorderly conduct rather than a modern mob disturbance. The context determines whether the emphasis is on excess, feasting, or revelry.
Biblical Usage
The King James Version retains “riot” in passages describing profligate conduct. Revised translations use more specific terms such as “gluttonous,” “revelling,” or “revel” in other passages.
Historical Background
Modern English usually associates riot with mob action, although expressions such as a “riotous banquet” preserve the older sense of excessive or unrestrained behavior.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ri'-ut: Properly, "unrestrained behavior" of any sort, but in modern English usually connoting mob action, although such phrases as a "riotous banquet" are still in common use. the King James Version uses the word in the first sense, and it is retained by the Revised Version (British and American) in Lu 15:13; Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4 for asotos, asotia, "having no hope of safety," "profligate]." In Pr 23:20; 28:7 the Revised Version (British and American) has preferred "gluttonous," "glutton," in Ro 13:13, "revelling," and in 2Pe 2:13, "revel."</p><p>Burton Scott Easton</p>