Study
Word study

Word study

Hebrew

To ruin

שָׁחַתStrong’s H7843

shachat (sha-chat)

Appears in 135 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Shachat is the Hebrew word usually translated “destroy”, “destroy it” and “destroyed”. It appears in 135 verses of the Old Testament.

“And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.”
Daniel 8:24 KJV
Meaning
  1. To destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay(Niphal) to be marred, be spoiled, be corrupted, be corrupt, be injured, be ruined, be rotted · (Piel) · (Hiphil) · (Hophal) spoiled, ruined (participle)
How it's translated
  • to destroy 18
  • to destroy it 9
  • and they destroyed 6
  • i will destroy 4
  • about to destroy 4
  • destroying 4
  • the destroyer 3
  • to destroy you 3

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Jeremiah 21
  • Genesis 14
  • Ezekiel 11
  • Deuteronomy 10
  • 2 Chronicles 10
  • Isaiah 9

25 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 135 verses, by book
Leviticus 1
19:27
Numbers 1
32:15
Joshua 1
22:33
Ruth 1
4:6
1 Chronicles 3
20:121:1221:15
Lamentations 3
2:52:62:8
Amos 1
1:11
Nahum 1
2:2
Zephaniah 1
3:7
Malachi 3
1:142:83:11
Hebrew dictionary

שָׁחַת shachat · to ruin

1) to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay 1a) (Niphal) to be marred, be spoiled, be corrupted, be corrupt, be injured, be ruined, be rotted 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to spoil, ruin 1b2) to pervert, corrupt, deal corruptly (morally) 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to spoil, ruin, destroy 1c2) to pervert, corrupt (morally) 1c3) destroyer (participle) 1d) (Hophal) spoiled, ruined (participle) Aramaic equivalent: she.chat (שְׁחַת "to corrupt" H7844)

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “ruin” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

RU'IN, noun

[Latin ruo, to fall, to rush down.]

  1. Destruction; fall; overthrow; defeat; that change of any thing which destroys it, or entirely defeats its object, or unfits it for use; as the ruin of a house; the ruin of a ship or an army; the ruin of a constitution of government; the ruin of health; the ruin of commerce; the ruin of public or private happiness; the ruin of a project.
  2. Mischief; bane; that which destroys.
  3. ruin more generally ruins, the remains of a decayed or demolished city, house, fortress, or any work of art or other thing; as the ruins of Balbec, Palmyra or Persepolis; the ruins of a wall; a castle in ruins.
  4. The decayed or enfeebled remains of a natural object; as, the venerable old man presents a great mind in ruins.
All definitions and other forms of “ruin”
  1. The cause of destruction.“They were the ruin of him and of all Israel” 2 Chronicles 28:23
  2. To demolish; to pull down, burn, or otherwise destroy; as, to ruin a city or an edifice.
  3. To subvert; to destroy; as, to ruin a state or government.
  4. To destroy; to bring to an end; as, to ruin commerce or manufactures.
  5. To destroy in any manner; as, to ruin health or happiness; to ruin reputation.
  6. To counteract; to defeat; as, to ruin a plan or project.
  7. To deprive of felicity or fortune.
  8. To impoverish; as, to be ruined by speculation.
  9. To bring to everlasting misery; as, to ruin the soul.

RU'IN, verb intransitive

  1. To fall into ruins.
  2. To run to ruin; to fall into decay or be dilapidated.
  3. To be reduced; to be brought to poverty or misery.

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 Hebrew, not from any one translation.