אֲבַדּוֹן

From the study of Proverbs 15:11

Range of meaning

"(Place of) destruction, perishing." It comes from 'avad, "perish, be lost, vanish." In the Hebrew Bible it is always a name for the realm of the dead, usually paired with Sheol or with death or the grave: Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps 88:11; Prov 15:11; 27:20.

Against the English

KJV and YLT translate it "destruction," which reads like an abstract event and hides the fact that it names a place. NIV's "Destruction" with a capital letter shows it is a name. BSB, ESV, NASB and WEB simply transliterate it as "Abaddon."

How it drifted

In the Hebrew Bible Abaddon is not a person. In Revelation 9:11, written much later, "Abaddon" (Greek Apollyon) is the name of the angel or king of the abyss. Readers who know that verse can wrongly read a demon or a ruler into Proverbs. Later rabbinic tradition also made Abaddon one of the names or compartments of Gehinnom (b. Eruvin 19a), but that is a development after the biblical period.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 26:6 is the closest parallel: "Sheol is naked before him, and Abaddon has no covering." Prov 27:20 also pairs "Sheol and Abaddon" as never satisfied. The Septuagint here renders it apōleia, "destruction." The Qumran Thanksgiving Hymns speak of "the Sheol of Abaddon" and "the torrents of Belial" bursting into Abaddon.

From the study of Job 26:6

Range of meaning

A noun from the verb ʾābad, 'to perish, be lost, go to ruin'. Its form names a place or an abstract state: 'ruin, destruction', and by extension 'the Place of Perishing'. It occurs six times, always in poetry and always tied to death or the underworld: Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps 88:11; Prov 15:11; 27:20. In Job 28:22 it speaks alongside Death, a poetic personification.

Against the English

KJV 'destruction', YLT 'destruction', NIV 'Destruction' (capitalised, half a name), NLT 'the place of destruction', BSB/ESV/NASB/WEB 'Abaddon'.

How it drifted

Since Revelation 9:11, where 'Abaddon' (Greek Apollyon, 'Destroyer') is the name of the angel over the bottomless pit, and since later demon-lore and popular fiction, many readers hear 'Abaddon' as a demon or monster. In Job it is a place. The KJV's lower-case 'destruction' has the opposite problem: it sounds like an event (an act of destroying) rather than a location.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates it apōleia, 'destruction, ruin' (here tē apōleia). The Dead Sea Hymns (1QH) speak of 'Sheol of Abaddon' and 'the torrents of Belial' bursting into Abaddon, which shows the word still meant the underworld-as-ruin in the late Second Temple period. In Revelation 9:11 it has become a personal name.