Word study

Demolish

5 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: demolish, demolished, demolishes. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “demolish” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • הָרַס hârasthrow down, break or tear downtranslated this way 11 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H2040Verb  ·  Translated: demolish 7, tear 6, torn 6, destroyed 5

    Exodus 23:24 You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

    2 Samuel 11:25 Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

    Full study and all 42 verses →
  • שָׁמַד shâmadbe exterminated, destroyedtranslated this way 2 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H8045Verb  ·  Translated: destroyed 37, destroy 25, destruction 5, wipe 3

    Numbers 33:52 you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

    Micah 5:14 I will root out the Asherah poles from your midst and demolish your cities.

    Full study and all 86 verses →
  • שָׁדַד shâdaddeal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruintranslated this way 2 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H7703Verb  ·  Translated: destroyed 11, destroyer 10, destroy 5, devastated 5

    Hosea 10:2 Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.

    Hosea 10:14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.

    Full study and all 47 verses →
  • שָׁמֵם shâmêmbe desoleted, appalledtranslated this way 2 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s H8074Verb  ·  Translated: appalled 17, desolate 10, deserted 5, desolation 4

    Numbers 21:30 But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

    Ezekiel 6:4 Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will cast down your slain before your idols.

    Full study and all 81 verses →
  • נָתַץ nâthatspull down, break downtranslated this way 2 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H5422Verb  ·  Translated: tear 11, torn 10, tore 8, broke 4

    Judges 9:45 And all that day Abimelech fought against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.

    2 Kings 10:27 They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.

    Full study and all 41 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.