Greek word · G3645

ὀλοθρεύω

olothreuō

to destroy

ὀλοθρεύω / ὀλεθρεύω means 'to destroy, bring to ruin'. It belongs almost entirely to Jewish and Christian Greek. With the article and participle it becomes a title: 'the Destroyer'.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament.

What it means

ὀλοθρεύω

(ὄλεθρος), late (Alex.) form of ὄλεθρεύω ω (cf. MGr., ξολοθρεύω) [in LXX for כָּרַת, שָׁחַת hi., etc. ;]

to destroy: Hebrews 11:28 (cf. ἐξ-ολοθρεύω).†

ὀλεθρεύω, see: ὀλοθρεύω

ὀλοθρεύω

(ὄλεθρος), late (Alex.) form of ὄλεθρεύω ω (cf. MGr., ξολοθρεύω) [in LXX for כָּרַת, שָׁחַת hi., etc. ;]

to destroy: Hebrews 11:28 (cf. ἐξ-ολοθρεύω).†

ὀλεθρεύω, see: ὀλοθρεύω

(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 Hebrews 11:28

Range of meaning

ὀλοθρεύω / ὀλεθρεύω means 'to destroy, bring to ruin'. It belongs almost entirely to Jewish and Christian Greek. With the article and participle it becomes a title: 'the Destroyer'.

Against the English

BSB, WEB and NASB say 'the destroyer'. KJV says 'he that destroyed', which loses the present-tense picture. YLT says 'He who is destroying', and its capital 'He' implies God. Some translations capitalize 'Destroyer' as a proper name, and some paraphrases say 'the angel of death', which brings in a figure the text does not name.

How it drifted

'Angel of death' comes from later Jewish and popular tradition. It is not in Exodus 12 or Hebrews 11.

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX of Exodus 12:23 has 'he will not let the destroying one (τὸν ὀλεθρεύοντα) enter your houses'. The Hebrew there is ha-mashchit, 'the destroyer'. Wisdom of Solomon 18:25 also calls this agent ὁ ὀλεθρεύων, and 18:15–16 describes God's 'all-powerful word' leaping from heaven like a warrior with a sword. Jubilees 49:2 credits the plague to 'the powers of Mastema'. Paul uses the related noun ὀλοθρευτής in 1 Corinthians 10:10 for the destroyer in the wilderness.

Similar words

Where it appears

Hebrews · 1

  1. Hebrews 11:28 ὀλοθρεύων destroying

    By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

    Here: 'The Destroying One', the agent of the tenth plague. The present tense pictures him in the act of going through Egypt.

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