To destroy
ἀπολλύωStrong’s G0622apolluō
Appears in 87 verses of the New Testament
In short
Apolluō is the Greek word usually translated “destroy”, “may perish” and “lose”. It appears in 87 verses of the New Testament.
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
Meaning
Usually translated “destroy”, “may perish” and “lose”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.
How it's translated
- to destroy 8
- may perish 7
- will lose 6
- will perish 5
- having been lost 5
- perishing 4
- already perishing 3
- they may destroy 3
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Luke 25
- Matthew 18
- John 11
- Mark 9
- 1 Corinthians 6
- 2 Corinthians 3
16 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- 2 Peter 3:6In contextWhereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
- 2 Peter 3:9In contextThe Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- 2 John 1:8In contextLook to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
- Jude 1:5In contextI will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
- Jude 1:11In contextWoe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
- Matthew 2:13And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
All 87 verses, by book
Greek dictionary
ἀπολλύω apolluō · to destroy
ἀπ-όλλυμι and ἀπολλύω [in LXX for אָבַד, etc. (38 words in all)]. 1. Act., 1 to destroy utterly, destroy, kill: Mk 124, 922, al.; τ. ψνχήν, Mat.10:28, al.; 2 to lose utterly: Mat.10:42, al.; metaphorically, of failing to save, Jhn.6:39 18:9. 2. Mid., 1 to perish; (a) of things: Mat.5:29, Jhn.6:12, Heb.1:11 (LXX, al.; …
From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “destroy” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
DESTROY, verb transitive
[Latin To pile, to build.]
- To demolish; to pull down; to separate the parts of an edifice, the union of which is necessary to constitute the thing; as, to destroy a house or temple; to destroy a fortification.
- To ruin; to annihilate a thing by demolishing or by burning; as, to destroy a city.
- To ruin; to bring to naught; to annihilate; as, to destroy a theory or scheme; to destroy a government; to destroy influence.
- To lay waste; to make desolate.“Go up against this land, and destroy it” Isaiah 36:10
All definitions
- To kill; to slay; to extirpate; applied to men or other animals.“Ye shall destroy all this people” Numbers 32:15“All the wicked will he destroy” Psalms 145:20
- To take away; to cause to cease; to put an end to; as, pain destroys happiness.“That the body of sin might be destroyed” Romans 6:6
- To kill; to eat; to devour; to consume.
- In general, to put an end to; to annihilate a thing or the form in which it exists.
- In chimistry, to resolve a body into its parts or elements.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Greek, not from any one translation.