Word study
Ruin
22 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: ruin, ruins, ruined. 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 “ruin” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חׇרְבָּה chorbâhwaste, desolation, ruintranslated this way 28 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H2723Noun · Translated: ruins 19, ruin 5, wasteland 3, desolation 3Full study and all 42 verses →
Ezra 9:9 Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
Job 3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,
- שָׁדַד shâdaddeal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruintranslated this way 6 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H7703Verb · Translated: destroyed 11, destroyer 10, destroy 5, devastated 5Full study and all 47 verses →
Isaiah 15:1 This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
Jeremiah 4:13 Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
- חָרֵב chârêbdrytranslated this way 6 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H2720Adjective · Translated: lies in ruins 3, dry 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Nehemiah 2:3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
Ezekiel 36:35 Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’
- שָׁחַת shâchathgo to ruin (?)translated this way 5 times of its 145 uses · Strong’s H7843Verb · Translated: destroy 58, destroyed 13, corrupt 7, corrupted 5Full study and all 135 verses →
Exodus 8:24 And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies.
Jeremiah 13:7 So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined— of no use at all.
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 5 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
2 Samuel 16:8 The LORD has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, you have come to ruin because you are a man of bloodshed!”
Proverbs 5:14 I am on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly.”
- מְחִתָּה mechittâhterror, destruction, ruintranslated this way 4 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H4288Noun · Translated: ruin 3, terror 3, destruction 2, rubble 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Proverbs 10:15 The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.
Proverbs 13:3 He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.
- חָרַב chârabbe dry, dried uptranslated this way 3 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2717Verb · Translated: dried 7, laid waste 6, dry 4, Kill 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Ezekiel 26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken; it has swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will be filled,’
Ezekiel 29:12 I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and her cities will lie desolate for forty years among the ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the countries.
- שָׁמֵם shâmêmbe desoleted, appalledtranslated this way 3 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s H8074Verb · Translated: appalled 17, desolate 10, deserted 5, desolation 4Full study and all 81 verses →
Joel 1:17 The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.
Amos 9:14 I will restore My people Israel from captivity; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
- תֵּל têlmoundtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8510Noun · Translated: mound of ruins 1, heap of ruins 1, mounds 1, ruins 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Deuteronomy 13:16 And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.
Joshua 8:28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
- שׁוֹא shôravage (?)translated this way 3 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H7722Noun · Translated: ruin 2, devastation 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Job 30:14 They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
Psalm 35:8 May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.
- מַפָּלָה mappâlâha ruintranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4654Noun · Translated: ruin 2, ruins 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Isaiah 17:1 This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.
Isaiah 23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans— a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.
- שְׁמָמָה shemâmâha devastation, wastetranslated this way 3 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H8077Noun · Translated: desolate 26, desolation 19, wasteland 4Full study and all 52 verses →
Jeremiah 44:6 Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.
Zephaniah 2:4 For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
- לָבַט lâbaṭthrust down, out, or awaytranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3832Verb · Translated: come to ruin 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Proverbs 10:8 A wise heart will receive commandments, but foolish lips will come to ruin.
Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.
- עַוָּה avvâhdistortion, ruintranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5754Noun · Translated: ruin 3Full study and its 1 verse →
Ezekiel 21:27 A ruin, a ruin, I will make it a ruin! And it will not be restored until the arrival of Him to whom it belongs, to whom I have assigned the right of judgment.’
- דָּמָה dâmâhcease, cause to cease, cut off, destroytranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H1820Verb · Translated: destroyed 3, perish 2, ruined 2, silenced 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
Obadiah 1:5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night — oh, how you will be ruined — would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
- חֹרֶב chôrebdryness, drought, heattranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H2721Noun · Translated: heat 3, dry 3, drought 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Isaiah 61:4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.
Jeremiah 49:13 For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”
- אָבַד âbadperishtranslated this way 2 times of its 179 uses · Strong’s H6Verb · Translated: perish 53, destroy 27, perished 15, destroyed 14Full study and all 173 verses →
Exodus 10:7 Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt lies in ruins?”
Jeremiah 48:8 The destroyer will move against every city, and not one town will escape. The valley will also be ruined, and the high plain will be destroyed, as the LORD has said.
- מַשּׁוּאָה mashshûâhruintranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4876Noun · Translated: ruin 1, ruins 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 73:18 Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
Psalm 74:3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.
- שַׁמָּה shammâhwaste, appalmenttranslated this way 2 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H8047Noun · Translated: desolation 12, horror 7, object of horror 6, laid waste 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Isaiah 24:12 The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.
Zephaniah 2:15 This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
- נָצָה nâtsâhstruggletranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H5327Verb · Translated: fighting 4, rebelled 2, rubble 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Jeremiah 2:15 The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
Jeremiah 4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
- פִּיד pîdruin, disastertranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6365Noun · Translated: ruin 2, misfortune 1, distress 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 31:29 If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him —
Proverbs 24:22 For they will bring sudden destruction. Who knows what ruin they can bring?
- שֹׁד shôdviolence, havoc, devastation, ruintranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H7701Noun · Translated: destruction 13, violence 3, ruin 2, devastation 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
Isaiah 60:18 No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders. But you will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπόλλυμι apóllymiI destroy, lose, am perishingtranslated this way 3 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s G622Verb · Translated: lost 12, lose 11, perish 10, destroy 9Full study and all 84 verses →
Matthew 9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Mark 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”
How to study a word well
- 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.
- 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.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- 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.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- 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.