הָרַס

Exodus 15:7 תַּהֲרֹ֣ס you threw down

You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

Exodus 19:21 יֶהֶרְס֤וּ they should break through

and the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD, lest many of them perish.

Exodus 19:24 יֶֽהֶרְס֛וּ they break through

And the LORD replied, “Go down and bring Aaron with you. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, or He will break out against them.”

Exodus 23:24 הָרֵס֙ תְּהָ֣רְסֵ֔ם completely <tear down>, you will tear down them

You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

Here: Infinitive (the verb's bare noun-like form) placed before the main verb of the same root for emphasis: 'tearing down.' The pairing gives 'you shall certainly, utterly tear down.'

Judges 6:25 וְהָרַסְתָּ֗ and you will tear down

On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

2 Samuel 11:25 וְהָרְסָ֖הּ and tear down it

Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

1 Kings 18:30 הֶהָרֽוּס׃ that was torn down

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.

1 Kings 19:10 הָרָ֔סוּ they have torn down

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

Here: To pull down or demolish. 1 Kings 18:30 uses the same verb for the ruined altar of Yahweh on Carmel that Elijah repaired.

1 Kings 19:14 הָרָ֔סוּ they have torn down

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

2 Kings 3:25 יַהֲרֹ֡סוּ they tore down

They destroyed the cities, and each man threw stones on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only Kir-haraseth was left with stones in place, but men with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.

1 Chronicles 20:1 וַיֶּֽהֶרְסֶֽהָ׃ and he overthrew it

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

Job 12:14 יַ֭הֲרוֹס he tears down

What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.

Here: The ordinary word for knocking down a built thing: a wall, an altar, a city. God is pictured as a demolisher. The verb form describes what he does, typically or whenever he chooses.

Psalm 11:3 יֵֽהָרֵס֑וּן they will be torn down !

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Here: 'Are being torn down'. A passive form of the verb used for pulling down walls, altars and cities. The tense pictures something going on or about to happen, not a finished ruin. The extra -n at the end is an older, fuller verb ending found often in poetry, and it gives the line some weight.

Psalm 28:5 יֶ֝הֶרְסֵ֗ם he will tear down them

Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD or what His hands have done, He will tear them down and never rebuild them.

Here: "He will tear them down." The verb is a builder's word for knocking down a wall, altar or city. The people are pictured as a structure: their house, their standing, their future.

Psalm 58:6 הֲרָס־ break away

O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.

Here: A command. The verb normally describes demolishing walls, cities and altars. Using it on teeth pictures God knocking the oppressor's weapons apart the way an army tears down a fortification.

Proverbs 11:11 תֵּהָרֵֽס׃ it is torn down

By the blessing of the upright a city is built up, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.

Proverbs 14:1 תֶהֶרְסֶֽנּוּ׃ she tears down it

Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

Here: A violent verb used for pulling down walls, cities and altars. Its form describes ongoing action. 'It' is masculine and points back to 'house', so she wrecks the very household that could have been built.

Proverbs 24:31 נֶהֱרָֽסָה׃ it was broken down

Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down.

Proverbs 29:4 יֶֽהֶרְסֶֽנָּה׃ he breaks down it

By justice a king brings stability to the land, but a man who exacts tribute demolishes it.

Here: The verb used for pulling down walls, altars and cities. "It" (feminine) refers back to the land. This is the exact opposite of "make stand": the land is torn down like a wall.

Isaiah 14:17 הָרָ֑ס he tore down

who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”

Isaiah 22:19 יֶהֶרְסֶֽךָ׃ he will tear down you

I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position.

Isaiah 49:17 מְהָֽרְסַ֥יִךְ [those who] tear down you

Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.

Jeremiah 1:10 וְלַהֲר֑וֹס and to tear down

See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”

Here: Breaking down walls, cities and structures (cf. Ps 28:5, 'he will tear them down and not build them up'). The main Masoretic accent falls here: the verse divides after the four verbs of ruin.

Jeremiah 24:6 אֶהֱרֹ֔ס I will tear [them] down

I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

Here: The word for demolishing walls, altars and cities. It is one of the destruction verbs from Jeremiah's commission (1:10), here explicitly withdrawn.

Jeremiah 31:28 וְלַהֲרֹ֖ס and to tear down

Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.

Here: To throw down or demolish, used of city walls and fortifications. A near-synonym of the previous verb that piles up the sense of ruin.

Jeremiah 31:40 יֵהָרֵ֛ס it will be torn down

The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

Here: 'It will be torn down.' This verb is also in Jeremiah's call (1:10, 'to overthrow'). The picture changes from a plant to a building or wall being demolished.

Jeremiah 42:10 אֶהֱרֹ֔ס I will tear [you] down

‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I will relent of the disaster I have brought upon you.

Here: 'I will (not) tear down.' The word for demolishing walls and buildings. Jerusalem's walls had just literally been torn down (39:8; 52:14).

Jeremiah 45:4 הֹרֵ֔ס [am] about to tear down

Thus Jeremiah was to say to Baruch: “This is what the LORD says: Throughout the land I will demolish what I have built and uproot what I have planted.

Here: 'Tearing down': this verb form describes something already under way or close at hand. The picture is walls and buildings being pulled down.

Jeremiah 50:15 נֶהֶרְס֖וּ they will be torn down

Raise a war cry against her on every side! She has thrown up her hands in surrender; her towers have fallen; her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD, take out your vengeance upon her; as she has done, do the same to her.

Here: 'They have been torn down.' The verb is passive, so the agent is not named. It is the same verb as 'to overthrow' in Jeremiah's call over nations and kingdoms (1:10).

Lamentations 2:2 הָרַ֧ס he has torn down

Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

Here: The ordinary verb for pulling down walls and buildings, the work of a besieging army. Here God is the one doing it.

Lamentations 2:17 הָרַ֖ס he has torn down

The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

Here: "He has torn down": the verb for pulling down walls and buildings. It repeats 2:2, where he "tore down" Judah's strongholds. Hebrew gives no object. BSB supplies "you".

Ezekiel 13:14 וְהָ֨רַסְתִּ֜י and I will tear down

I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 16:39 וְהָרְס֤וּ and they will tear down

Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

Ezekiel 26:4 וְהָֽרְסוּ֙ and they will tear down

They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and make her a bare rock.

Here: To pull down or break apart a built structure. It pairs with 'ruin' in a two-line parallel: walls ruined, towers torn down.

Ezekiel 26:12 וְהָֽרְסוּ֙ and they will tear down

They will plunder your wealth and pillage your merchandise. They will demolish your walls, tear down your beautiful homes, and throw your stones and timber and soil into the water.

Ezekiel 30:4 וְנֶהֶרְס֖וּ and they will be torn down

A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down.

Ezekiel 36:35 וְהַנֶּהֱרָס֖וֹת and <the> broken down

Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’

Here: Walls and buildings physically pulled down (compare Ezekiel 13:14; 30:4). The same word comes back in verse 36: 'I have rebuilt the torn-down places.'

Ezekiel 36:36 הַנֶּ֣הֱרָס֔וֹת the broken down [cities]

Then the nations around you that remain will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed, and I have replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.

Here: "The torn-down [ones]." The form is feminine plural, matching "cities" in v. 35, which uses the same word. It pictures walls and houses pulled down by the Babylonian army.

Ezekiel 38:20 וְנֶהֶרְס֣וּ and they will be thrown down

The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that crawls upon the ground, and all mankind on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

Joel 1:17 נֶהֶרְס֖וּ they have been torn down

The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.

Micah 5:11 וְהָרַסְתִּ֖י and I will tear down

I will remove the cities of your land and tear down all your strongholds.

Malachi 1:4 אֶהֱר֑וֹס I will tear down

Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.

Here: "I will tear down." Used of pulling down walls, altars and cities. Paired with "build", it echoes the prophetic language of building up and tearing down nations (Jer 1:10).