Words the Bible translates as destroy
English uses one word here. The Bible uses 29 words, and they do not mean the same thing. Each is listed with what it actually means, most frequent first.
- apolluōἀπολλύωto destroy: to put to death or bring to ruin so that something or someone is wiped out
+1 more meaning
- to perish: to come to one's own ruin, to die, to be lost
- kalahכָּלָהto reach a full end, or to bring something to its full end: to finish it, use it up, or wipe it out
- avadאָבַדto perish, to be destroyed, to come to a final end; and, when done to someone else, to destroy them or wipe them out.
- shaḥatשָׁחַתto ruin: to wreck something so it no longer works as it should, whether a thing, a people, or a person's own moral character
- kathaireōκαθαιρέωto bring something down by force: to take it down from where it stands or hangs, tear it down, or remove someone from a place of power
- aphanizōἀφανίζωto make something no longer visible: to spoil how it looks, ruin it away to nothing, or (of the thing itself) fade from sight
- shamadשָׁמַדto destroy completely: to wipe out a people, place, or thing so that nothing remains
- diaphtheirōδιαφθείρωto destroynot studied yet
- kataluōκαταλύωto take something apart so it no longer stands: to tear down, demolish, or do away with, whether a building, a law, or a plan
+1 more meaning
- to stop for the night as a guest: to find lodging and rest at the end of a journey
- luōλύωto loose: to undo something that is tied, fastened, held, or bound together, whether a literal knot or a thing that holds people captive or in place.
- shadadשָׁדַדto devastate: to wreck something by violence and strip it bare, the ruin a raiding army leaves behind.
- ḥaramחָרַםto hand a thing over to God for good, by destroying it or by giving it up forever, so it can never return to ordinary human use
+1 more meaning
- having a mutilated or flattened nose, said of a physical defect that bars a priest from serving at the altar
- balaבָּלַעto swallow: to take something wholly in and make it disappear, from gulping food down to engulfing and destroying.
- natatsנָתַץto tear down: to demolish something built, reducing a structure to rubble
- ḥarevחָרֵבto lay waste, to be left in ruins: for a city, land, or people to be destroyed and abandoned
+1 more meaning
- to dry up: for water to fail and a wet place to go dry
- maḥahמָחָהto wipe a surface clean, and from that, to blot out: to erase a record, a name, or a person until nothing is left.
+2 more meanings
- to strike against, and so to reach or touch: said of a boundary line that runs up against a landmark.
- to be full of marrow, said of rich, fatty food.
- kaḥadכָּחַדto wipe out, to cut off or destroy so that something no longer exists.
+1 more meaning
- to hide or conceal something, especially to keep back what one knows from another person.
- katargeōκαταργέωto make something inactive or ineffective: to strip it of its force so it no longer works, whether by nullifying it, abolishing it, or setting it aside
- phtheirōφθείρωto ruin something: to bring what was whole or pure into a spoiled, corrupted, or destroyed state, so that human corruption and the destruction it invites can be named by one word
- ḥavalחָבַלto ruin or destroy: to do violent harm, spoil, or act corruptly
+2 more meanings
- to take or hold something as a pledge: to seize a borrower's property as security for a debt
- to writhe in labor: to conceive or be gripped by the pangs of giving birth
- natashנָתַשׁto pull up by the roots: to uproot a plant, and so to tear a people, a shrine, a city, or a ruling house out of the place where it stood settled
- saphahסָפָהto sweep or scrape away to destruction; and so, in the passive, to be swept away and perish
+1 more meaning
- to add or heap up, piling one thing on top of another (usually guilt or wrath)
- tsamatצָמַתto put a final end to someone or something: to destroy, exterminate, wipe out
- hamamהָמַםto throw into confusion, so routing an enemy or crushing it to pieces.
- avadאֲבַדto perish, or to make something perish: to come to a final end, or to put a person or thing out of existence for good.
- ḥavalחֲבַלto destroynot studied yet
- olothreuōὀλοθρεύωto destroynot studied yet
- maḥaqמָחַקto destroynot studied yet
- shemadשְׁמַדto destroynot studied yet
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Every English meaning beginning with D is on its letter page, and the whole index starts at Browse.