TR: shâmad → apóllymi (Total Destruction / Perishing)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
שָׁמַד (shâmad) → ἀπόλλυμι (apóllymi) → ἀπόλλυμι (apóllymi)
H8045, 86 verses 23x as translation of H8045 G622, 86 verses
"destroy, exterminate" (PMI 14.39) "destroy / perish"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H8045 | שָׁמַד (shâmad) | 86 verses | to exterminate, destroy utterly (Hiphil active / Niphal passive) |
| H8047 | שַׁמָּה (shammâh) | — | feminine noun: desolation, waste, horror (cognate) |
Canonical study: H8045-shamad.md
Key OT passages: - Deut 4:26 — "ye shall soon utterly perish (shâmad) from off the land... ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed." — covenant curse framework - Deut 31:3 — "the LORD thy God... he will destroy (shâmad) these nations from before thee" — conquest promise - Esth 3:13 — "to destroy (shâmad), to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews" — Haman's decree - Dan 11:44 — "he shall go forth with great fury to destroy (shâmad), and utterly to make away many" — prophetic eschatological destruction
LXX Bridge¶
Hebrew → Greek (what Greek translates shâmad?)¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Count | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shâmad (H8045) | ἀπόλλυμι (G622) | 23x | 14.39 | Primary equivalent — standard Greek rendering |
| shâmad (H8045) | ἐξαίρω (G1808) | 12x | 11.04 | "remove utterly, put away" — captures removal nuance |
| shâmad (H8045) | ἀπώλεια (G684) | 5x | 7.55 | Cognate abstract noun: "destruction, perdition" |
| shâmad (H8045) | πλανάω (G4105) | 4x | 6.02 | "lead astray" — rare, contextual |
Greek → Hebrew (what Hebrew does apóllymi translate?)¶
| Greek | Hebrew Source | Count | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| apóllymi (G622) | ʼâbad (H6) | 141x | 30.45 | Dominant source — apóllymi's main OT base |
| apóllymi (G622) | shâmad (H8045) | 23x | 14.39 | Secondary but strong source |
| apóllymi (G622) | kârath (H3772) | 21x | 8.42 | "cut off" — related covenant-cutting language |
| apóllymi (G622) | yârash (H3423) | 15x | 7.41 | "dispossess" — conquest outcome |
| apóllymi (G622) | shâdad (H7703) | 8x | 8.58 | "devastate, spoil" |
| apóllymi (G622) | ʼăbad (H7, Aramaic) | 6x | 12.51 | Aramaic cognate of H6 |
Semantic shift in translation: The LXX consolidates a cluster of Hebrew "destruction" verbs (ʼâbad, shâmad, kârath, shâdad, yârash) into a single Greek verb apóllymi. Where Hebrew distinguished perishing (ʼâbad, intransitive) from exterminating (shâmad, transitive causative), Greek apóllymi covers both voices (active "destroy" / middle-passive "perish"). This consolidation is why NT apóllymi can carry either nuance depending on voice — continuing a distinction Hebrew marked lexically but Greek marks morphologically.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G622 | ἀπόλλυμι (apóllymi) | 86 verses | to destroy fully; middle/passive: to perish, be lost |
| G684 | ἀπώλεια (apṓleia) | — | noun: destruction, perdition, ruin |
| G620 | ἀπολείπω (apoleípō) | — | verb: to leave behind, forsake (family cognate) |
| G628 | ἀπολούω (apoloúō) | — | verb: to wash away (family cognate) |
Canonical study: G622-apollymi.md; G684-apoleia.md (cognate noun).
Key NT passages: - John 3:15–16 — "whosoever believeth in him should not perish (apollymi), but have eternal life" — the redemptive inversion of the OT destruction threat - Matt 10:28 — "fear him which is able to destroy (apollymi) both soul and body in hell" — divine eschatological destruction - 2 Pet 3:9 — "not willing that any should perish (apollymi), but that all should come to repentance" - Mark 1:24 / Luke 4:34 — the demons to Jesus: "art thou come to destroy (apollymi) us?" — destruction as end of hostile powers - 1 Cor 1:18 — "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish (apollymi) foolishness" — two destinies language
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
The chain carries indirectly rather than through explicit citation. Key intertextual echoes (not direct LXX quotations but shared lexical stock):
| NT Verse | OT Background | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt 10:28 | Deut 4:26 / 28:63 | apollymi ↔ shâmad | The Deuteronomic total-destruction language is picked up for final judgment; the destroyer is God, not man |
| John 3:16 | Deut 30:15–19 | apollymi ↔ shâmad/abad | The Deuteronomic "life vs destruction" choice reframed as belief vs perishing |
| 2 Pet 3:9 | Ezek 18:23, 32; 33:11 | apollymi ↔ shâmad | God's reluctance to destroy echoes the prophetic "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" |
No direct LXX-literal quotation of a shâmad passage in the NT was identified; the continuity is conceptual and vocabulary-level rather than citational.
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - Total-destruction sense preserved. Both shâmad and apollymi denote final, irreversible destruction — not damage or reform. - God as ultimate agent. In both corpora, the destruction is most often sourced in divine action or divine permission (Deut 28; Matt 10:28; Rev 11:18). - Covenant-conditioned. OT: destruction for breaking covenant (Deut 28). NT: destruction for unbelief / rejection of Christ (John 3:18, 2 Thess 1:9). Same conditional logic on a new covenant basis. - Two-destinies framework. Psa 145:20 ("the LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy") anticipates the NT saved/perishing dichotomy (1 Cor 1:18, 2 Cor 2:15).
What shifts: - Voice consolidation. Hebrew used different verbs for active destroy (shâmad Hiphil) vs passive perish (ʼâbad). Greek uses one verb (apollymi) with voice morphology. This lets NT apollymi carry both nuances fluidly — Jesus both "destroys" (Matt 10:28) and is the one through whom we do not "perish" (John 3:16). - Eschatological intensification. OT shâmad is largely historical (Canaanite conquest, Assyrian/Babylonian destruction). NT apollymi is largely eschatological (final judgment, the age to come). - Redemptive inversion. The OT threat ("thou shalt be destroyed") becomes the NT negated promise ("should not perish"). The same verb, now used to describe what believers are rescued from. - Interior dimension. NT apollymi can describe the destruction of soul as well as body (Matt 10:28); OT shâmad is predominantly about bodies, houses, nations, cities — external and corporate.
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