H7843 — שָׁחַת (shâchath)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7843
Original: שָׁחַת
Transliteration: shâchath
Pronunciation: shaw-khath
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: Primitive root (no known parent; cognate noun H4889 מַשְׁחִית mashchiyth)
Occurrences: 136 unique verses, 25 books
First Occurrence: Gen 6:11 — "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to decay, i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively):—batter, cast off, corrupt(-er, thing), destroy(-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, utterly, waste(-r).

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Hiphil	98	cause to be ruined, destroy, corrupt (someone/something)
Piel	39	thoroughly corrupt/destroy (intensive action)
Niphal	6	become corrupt, be destroyed (reflexive/passive)
Peal	3	Aramaic-corpus form (morphologically equivalent to Qal)
Hophal	2	be caused to be destroyed (passive causative)

Tallied from BHSA via Text-Fabric (lex=CXT[, 148 total tokens).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Cluster	Est. Verses	%
destroy / destroyed / destroyer(s) / destroyeth / destroying	~65	~48%
corrupt / corrupted / corrupter(s) / corruptly	~22	~16%
mar / marred	~7	~5%
spoiler(s) / waster / waste	~5	~4%
Other (lose, spill, batter, perish, cast off, etc.)	~37	~27%

Note: Raw translations are phrase-level (e.g., "to destroy it", "have destroyed"); clusters above aggregate semantically equivalent forms.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Malachi	3	5.5
Nahum	1	2.1
Lamentations	3	1.9
Zephaniah	1	1.9
Hosea	3	1.5
Jeremiah	21	1.5
2 Chronicles	10	1.2
Judges	7	1.1
Daniel	4	1.1
Deuteronomy	10	1.0
Genesis	14	0.9
2 Samuel	6	0.9
Ezekiel	11	0.9
1 Samuel	6	0.7
Isaiah	9	0.7
Proverbs	6	0.7
Amos	1	0.7
2 Kings	4	0.6
1 Chronicles	3	0.3
Exodus	4	0.3
Joshua	1	0.2
Psalms	5	0.2
Leviticus	1	0.1
Numbers	1	0.1
Ruth	1	—

Concentrated in prophetic literature (Jeremiah leads in raw count) and narratives of judgment. Highest density in the Minor Prophets (Malachi, Lamentations, Hosea, Zephaniah). Low density in Psalms suggests the noun/passive sense is rare in liturgical poetry; dominant in prose narrative and prophetic address.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Moral / Spiritual Corruption (Niphal/Piel — becoming or causing to be corrupt)¶

Gen 6:11–12 — "The earth also was corrupt before God... all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" — universal moral decay as grounds for the Flood
Deut 4:16 — "Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image" — idolatry as self-corruption
Deut 32:5 — "They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not of his children"
Hos 9:9 — "They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah"

2. Physical Destruction of Cities, Nations, or Armies (Hiphil — active, causative)¶

Gen 19:13–14 — "We will destroy this place... the LORD will destroy this city" — Sodom's destruction
Judg 20:21, 35 — "destroyed down to the ground... the LORD smote Benjamin" — internecine war
Lam 2:5–6 — "He hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his places of assembly"
2 Chr 36:19 — "They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem"

3. Ruining / Marring Objects (literal physical damage)¶

Lev 19:27 — "neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard"
1 Sam 6:5 — "images of your mice that mar the land"
Jer 13:7 — "the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing" — the sign-act of the linen belt
Jer 18:4 — "the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter"

4. Divine Restraint from Destruction (Hiphil negated — God holding back)¶

Deut 4:31 — "he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant"
2 Kgs 8:19 — "Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake"
Ps 78:38 — "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not"
Ps 106:23 — "Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach"

5. The Destroyer as Active Agent (participial / noun uses)¶

1 Sam 13:17 — "the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies"
2 Sam 24:16 — "when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented"
Jer 4:7 — "the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place"
Isa 54:16 — "I have created the waster to destroy"

6. Self-Destruction / Reflexive Ruin¶

Hos 13:9 — "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help"
Deut 31:29 — "after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves"
Ezek 28:17 — "thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (Yahweh)	H3068	51x (38%)	"the LORD will/would not destroy..."; divine agent of destruction
כֹּל (all)	H3605	35x (26%)	"destroy all flesh / all the earth" — totality of ruin
אֶרֶץ (earth/land)	H776	34x (25%)	earth corrupted before God; land destroyed by enemies
בּוֹא (come/bring)	H935	23x (17%)	destroyer comes / God brings destruction
עָשָׂה (do/make)	H6213	22x (16%)	"done abominably", or act of causing destruction
אֱלֹהִים (God)	H430	21x (15%)	God as observer or agent of corruption/ruin
פָּנִים (face/before)	H6440	18x (13%)	"corrupt before God"; destruction in the presence of the LORD
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Israel)	H3478	17x (12%)	destruction of Israel as covenant judgment
עַם (people)	H5971	15x (11%)	people who corrupt themselves; people destroyed
יָד (hand)	H3027	13x (10%)	"stretch forth the hand to destroy the LORD's anointed"

Word Family / Cognates¶

H4889 מַשְׁחִית (mashchiyth) — destruction, destructive; destroyer; pit (noun from shâchath, Hiphil participial pattern); occurs 11x: Gen 9:11, Exod 12:13, 23; 2 Sam 24:16; 1 Chr 21:12,15; Jer 22:7; Ezek 5:16; 9:1; 21:31; 25:15

Synonyms¶

No synonym entries were returned by search_relationships.py for H7843.

Antonyms¶

No antonym entries were returned by search_relationships.py for H7843.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
שָׁמַד (shâmad)	H8045	"destroy", "destroyed"	shâmad = total extermination/eradication (used of tribes, idols, nations utterly wiped out); shâchath = broader ruin, including moral corruption, physical damage, or partial destruction
אָבַד (ʼâbad)	H6	"destroy", "destroyed"	ʼâbad often intransitive = to perish, be lost (things/persons that vanish); shâchath = active ruining/corrupting, usually by an agent
חָבַל (châbal)	H2254	"to destroy"	châbal = to wound by pledging, to corrupt by binding; shâchath = broader ruin/decay

Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002001001024	Impact	Returned by `search_relationships.py` for literal damage / battering contexts.
002003003010	End	The core termination / destruction field returned by the tool.
002001002007	Evil	Secondary corruption field surfaced by the tool.
002001003020	Wrong	Secondary moral-wrongness field surfaced by the tool.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
διαφθείρω (diaphtheirō)	G1311	48	7.00	Primary equivalent; "to rot thoroughly, corrupt utterly"
φθείρω (phtheirō)	G5351	6	6.39	Secondary; "to waste, spoil"
κατακλυσμός (kataklysmós)	G2627	4	5.49	Used for the Flood context (Gen 6–9)
ἐξαλείφω (exaleíphō)	G1813	5	4.63	"Blot out, obliterate"
ἄνομος (ánomos)	G459	7	3.64	"Lawless" — used where shâchath describes moral corruption
ἀπόλλυμι (apóllymi)	G622	9	2.52	"Destroy fully" — general destruction overlap

Primary bridge: G1311 διαφθείρω. Co-occurrence 48x exceeds trace threshold; see TR-shachath-diaphtheiro.md.