To destroy
φθείρωStrong’s G5351phtheirō
Appears in 8 verses of the New Testament
In short
Phtheirō is the Greek word usually translated “destroys”, “destroy” and “do corrupt”. It appears in 8 verses of the New Testament.
“But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;”
Meaning
Usually translated “destroys”, “destroy” and “do corrupt”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.
How it's translated
- destroys 1
- will destroy 1
- do corrupt 1
- we have corrupted 1
- may be corrupted 1
- is being corrupted 1
- will be destroyed 1
- they corrupt themselves 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- 1 Corinthians 2
- 2 Corinthians 2
- Ephesians 1
- 2 Peter 1
- Jude 1
- Revelation 1
6 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Jude 1:10In contextBut these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
- 1 Corinthians 3:17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
- 2 Corinthians 7:2Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
- Ephesians 4:22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Greek dictionary
φθείρω phtheirō · to destroy
φθείρω [in LXX chiefly for שָׁחַת hi., pi., also for חָבַל, etc. ;] to destroy, corrupt, spoil (on the varied usage and distinctive meaning of the word, see Mayor on 2Pe, App., 175 ff.): with accusative, 1Co.3:17 15:23, 2Co.7:2; before ἀπό, 2Co.11:3; ἐν, 2Pe.2:12, Ju 10, Rev.19:2; κατά, Eph.4:22 (cf. δια-, κατα-φθείρω).† (AS)
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.