Greek word · G1842

ἐξολοθρεύω

exolothreuō

to root out

To destroy completely or root out. The word belongs almost entirely to Jewish and Christian Greek and is very rare elsewhere.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

έξ-ολεθρεύω

(so best MSS. and WH; also read -οθρεύω), [in LXX frequently (rare in Gk. writers) for כָּרַת ni., hi., etc. ;]

to destroy utterly: before ἐκ τ. λαοῦ, Acts 3:23 (LXX).†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Acts 3:23

Range of meaning

To destroy completely or root out. The word belongs almost entirely to Jewish and Christian Greek and is very rare elsewhere. In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, or LXX) it translates mainly two Hebrew verbs: karat in the formula "that person shall be cut off from his people", and shamad/ḥaram, used for wiping out nations or idols.

Against the English

KJV/ESV "destroyed", WEB/YLT/NASB "utterly destroyed", BSB/NIV "completely cut off". "Destroyed" captures how strong the verb is but hides the Leviticus formula behind it. "Cut off" recovers the formula but can sound like simple excommunication.

How it drifted

English "destroyed" now suggests annihilation, the person or thing ceasing to exist. The Levitical formula is about a person being removed from the covenant community by God's judgment. What that removal involves in the end is debated (see debates).

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Lev 23:29: "every soul that is not humbled on that day exolethreuthēsetai from its people". The same formula appears in Gen 17:14 (the uncircumcised), Exod 12:15 (eating leaven at Passover) and Num 15:30–31 (sinning "with a high hand"). In the Hebrew this is the karet penalty, which Mishnah Keritot 1:1 later catalogues as 36 offences. Rabbinic tradition understood it as death at God's hand, not by a human court.

Where it appears

Acts · 1

  1. Acts 3:23 ἐξολεθρευθήσεται will be utterly destroyed

    Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people.’

    Here: "Will be rooted out / utterly destroyed". It is the Greek Old Testament's word for the Law's "cut off" (karet) penalty: removal from the covenant people by God's own judgment. The passive leaves God as the one who acts.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.