Hebrew word · H5486

סוּף

'asifem

to cease

To come to an end, cease, be finished. It is a fairly rare verb used for things that run out or disappear.

Appears 7 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

1) to cease, come to an end

1a) (Qal) to come to an end

1b) (Hiphil) to make an end

Aramaic equivalent: suph (סוּף "be fulfilled" H5487)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: To come to an end, cease, be finished. It is a fairly rare verb used for things that run out or disappear.
Against the English: "Shall be consumed" (KJV), "are consumed" (YLT), "shall come to an end" (WEB) and "will perish" (BSB). WEB is closest. BSB's "perish" fits the context of slaughter in verse 16 but is a shade more specific than the verb. NLT's "terrible" adds a word with no direct equivalent in the Hebrew.
How it drifted: In 1611 "consumed" could simply mean finished or used up. Today it mostly suggests being eaten or burned, so readers may hear either an eating pun or a direct reference to fire, neither of which the Hebrew verb contains.
Used elsewhere in the period: Amos 3:15 (great houses shall come to an end); Psalm 73:19 (the wicked swept away and finished); Jeremiah 8:13 and Zephaniah 1:2-3 (a related form, God sweeping everything away). The Septuagint has analōthēsontai, "will be used up, consumed," which is similar in sense to the KJV's choice.

Range of meaning: sûp means 'to come to an end, cease', a mostly late and poetic verb related to sôp, 'end'. BDB connects it with sûpâ, 'storm-wind', the wind that sweeps things off. tāmam means 'to be complete, finished, spent'. Used of people, it means 'to perish, be consumed' (Num 14:35; Deut 2:16). The same root gives tām and tāmîm, 'whole, blameless'.
Against the English: KJV 'utterly consumed' and BSB/NIV/WEB 'completely swept away' turn the two verbs into one intensified idea. YLT keeps both: 'They have been ended — consumed'. 'Consumed' in KJV can suggest fire or eating, but the Hebrew only means 'finished off'.
Used elsewhere in the period: sûp: Amos 3:15, 'the great houses shall come to an end'. Isa 66:17, 'they shall come to an end together'. Esth 9:28. Often in Aramaic (Dan 4:33). tāmam: Num 14:35 and Deut 2:14–16 for the wilderness generation dying off until 'all were finished'. Jer 14:15.

Range of meaning: To come to an end, cease, be finished (Ps 73:19, 'they are utterly ended'; Isa 66:17, 'they will come to an end together'). In the causative stem, to bring to an end or finish off. The related noun sôp̄ means 'end' (Eccl 3:11; 7:2), and the same root in Aramaic is used for things being fulfilled or finished (Dan 4:33; 7:28).
Against the English: Translations rarely show that a second, different verb is at work. 'Utterly' or 'completely' stands in for the whole first word plus the sense of finality, so the reader cannot see the sound-play: ʾāsōp̄ ʾāsēp̄.
Used elsewhere in the period: Jeremiah 8:13 pairs the same two roots. The Greek Septuagint read both words in Zephaniah 1:2 as coming from this root ('let everything utterly fail', ἐκλείψει ἐκλιπέτω), which shows that ancient readers heard 'ending' in the verse.

Esther · 1

Esther 9:28 יָס֥וּף it will cease

These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 73:19 סָ֥פוּ they come to an end

How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

Here: 'They have come to an end.' It is the verb related to sôp, 'end'. Its sound is close to sûpâ, 'storm-wind', which is why some versions say 'swept away'.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 66:17 יָסֻ֖פוּ they will come to an end

“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.

Here: "They will come to an end," a flat statement of finish, like something running out. The surrounding verses supply fire and sword, but this verb itself says only that they will be gone.

Jeremiah · 1

Jeremiah 8:13 אֲסִיפֵ֖ם I will make an end of them

I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”

Zephaniah · 3

Zephaniah 1:2 אָסֵ֜ף I will bring to an end

“I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.

Here: Most grammars take this as 'I will make an end of', a first-person causative form of סוּף written in a shortened spelling. It sounds almost the same as the word before it, so the two make a deliberate sound-play: 'I will gather, I will finish.' Together they say the gathering is final.
Zephaniah 1:3 אָסֵ֨ף אָסֵ֤ף I will bring to an end

“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.

Here: 'I will make an end of / sweep away.' The form deliberately sounds like ʾāsap, 'gather,' which picks up the wordplay of verse 2. God speaks in the first person, and the word suggests gathering everything up so that it can be finished off.

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