Greek word · G3

Ἀβαδδών

abaddōn

Abaddon

From the Hebrew root 'abad, 'to perish, be lost'. It means 'destruction, ruin' and, by extension, 'the place of destruction', a poetic name for the deepest realm of the dead.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

Ἀβαδδών (Heb. אֲבַדּוֹן, destruction; LXX, ἀπώλεια, only in Wisdom Lit., of the place of the ruined dead: Job 26:6, 28:22, 31:12, Psalms 88:12, Proverbs 15:11*), indecl.;

in NT, Abaddon, the angel of the Abyss: Revelation 9:11.†

(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 Revelation 9:11

Range of meaning

From the Hebrew root 'abad, 'to perish, be lost'. It means 'destruction, ruin' and, by extension, 'the place of destruction', a poetic name for the deepest realm of the dead.

Against the English

Most English versions leave 'Abaddon' untranslated, so the reader sees a foreign proper name and misses that John's audience could know it as a biblical word meaning 'Destruction'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Old Testament: Job 26:6 ('Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering'); Job 28:22, where 'Abaddon and Death say…', so it is already personified as a speaker; Job 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11 and 27:20 (paired with Sheol). The LXX translates it apōleia, 'destruction'. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Thanksgiving Hymns (1QH XI) speak of the 'Sheol of Abaddon' and the torrents of Belial bursting into Abaddon (HALOT; Aune).

Where it appears

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 9:11 Ἀβαδδών, [is] Abaddon,

    They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.

    Here: The Hebrew 'abaddon, 'destruction, the place of ruin'. In the Old Testament it is a poetic name for the realm of the dead, paired with Sheol and Death. Here it becomes the personal name of the abyss's ruler.

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