Hebrew word · H6789

צָמַת

'atzmit

to destroy

In the forms used here: to put an end to, destroy, annihilate, wipe out. It is used of God or the king destroying enemies (Ps 18:40; 54:5; 94:23; 143:12) and of enemies ending a life (Lam 3:53).

Appears 15 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to put an end to, cut off, destroy, exterminate, extirpate

1a) (Qal) to put an end to, terminate

1b) (Niphal) to be ended, be annihilated, be exterminated

1c) (Piel) to put an end to

1d) (Pilel) to be exterminated, be annihilated

1e) (Hiphil) to exterminate, annihilate

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

In depth

From the study of Psalm 101:5

Range of meaning

In the forms used here: to put an end to, destroy, annihilate, wipe out. It is used of God or the king destroying enemies (Ps 18:40; 54:5; 94:23; 143:12) and of enemies ending a life (Lam 3:53). In Arabic a word with the same consonants means 'to be silent', which is likely behind the 'silence' renderings.

Against the English

KJV 'cut off', ESV and NASB 'destroy'. BSB, NIV and WEB use 'put to silence / silence'. 'Silence' fits the tongue imagery neatly, but in English it sounds milder ('shut him up') than Hebrew usage, which is consistently about finishing someone off or removing them.

How it drifted

The 'silence' renderings depend on the Arabic related word and on the attractive match with 'tongue'. Inside the Hebrew Bible itself, the verb means destruction.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same form (atsmit) appears again in v. 8: 'Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land'. Ps 18:40 / 2 Sam 22:41: 'those who hate me I destroyed'. The Septuagint here has 'I drove out' (exediōkon).

From the study of Psalm 101:8

Range of meaning

To bring to an end, silence, wipe out, annihilate (HALOT: "to put an end to, destroy"; some lexicons note a sense "to silence"). Used of God or the king finishing off enemies (Ps 18:40; 54:5; 94:23; 143:12), of God doing away with the unfaithful (Ps 73:27), and of enemies trying to destroy the psalmist (Ps 69:4).

Against the English

"Destroy" (KJV, ESV, WEB, NASB) is accurate and strong. BSB "remove" and NIV "put to silence" are softer. They fit the courtroom setting, but they can hide how final the verb is.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Psalms it is consistently a verb of finality. The verb used in v. 5 ("him I will destroy") returns here, tying the end of the psalm to the slanderer of v. 5.

From the study of Psalm 69:4

Range of meaning

To put an end to, exterminate, silence, cut off. It is used of destroying enemies (Ps 18:40; 94:23; 101:5, 8; Lam 3:53, 'they cut off my life in the pit'). The Hiphil form here means 'to bring to an end'.

Against the English

KJV/BSB 'would destroy me' and WEB 'want to cut me off' catch the intent. 'Destroy' can sound general. The Hebrew picture is of being wiped out or silenced: his voice and his life cut off.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used for kings wiping out rebels (Ps 101:5) and for God destroying the wicked (Ps 94:23). Commentators often note that the Syriac version seems to reflect a different Hebrew word here, mēʿaṣmôtay, 'more than my bones'.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:41 וָאַצְמִיתֵֽם׃ and I destroyed them

    You have made my enemies retreat before me; I destroyed those who hated me.

Job · 2

  1. Job 6:17 נִצְמָ֑תוּ they are silenced

    but ceasing in the dry season and vanishing from their channels in the heat.

  2. Job 23:17 נִ֭צְמַתִּי I have been destroyed

    Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Psalms · 11

  1. Psalm 18:40 אַצְמִיתֵֽם׃ I destroyed them

    You have made my enemies retreat before me; I destroyed those who hated me.

  2. Psalm 54:5 הַצְמִיתֵֽם׃ destroy them

    He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.

  3. Psalm 69:4 מַ֭צְמִיתַי [those who] destroy me

    Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.

    Here: 'Those who would wipe me out'. The verb means to silence or exterminate. They want him finished, not just beaten. (A possible earlier reading, 'more than my bones', is discussed in the textual notes.)

  4. Psalm 73:27 הִ֝צְמַ֗תָּה you destroy

    Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.

    Here: 'You have put an end to.' The verb form says God makes it happen: their end is not chance but his act. It is in the completed tense, either because the psalmist has already seen it in vision or because it is so certain it can be spoken of as done.

  5. Psalm 88:16 צִמְּתוּתֻֽנִי׃ they have destroyed me

    Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

  6. Psalm 94:23 יַצְמִיתֵ֑ם יַ֝צְמִיתֵ֗ם he will destroy them

    He will bring upon them their own iniquity and destroy them for their wickedness. The LORD our God will destroy them.

    Here: A strong verb for ending something completely: silencing, wiping out. It fits enemies who "pour out arrogant words" (v. 4). The Hebrew accent mark ends the first half of the verse here.

  7. Psalm 101:5 אַ֫צְמִ֥ית I will destroy

    Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

    Here: 'I will put an end to / wipe out'. This is a strong verb of destruction (the same word in v. 8 for clearing out all the wicked of the land). The king will remove the informer completely, not just scold him.

  8. Psalm 101:8 אַצְמִ֥ית I will destroy

    Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

    Here: "I will put an end to." The causative form of a verb meaning to silence, finish off, wipe out. It repeats the verb of v. 5 ("the slanderer... him I will destroy"), so the king's vow ends by widening that one case to every guilty person.

  9. Psalm 119:139 צִמְּתַ֥תְנִי it has destroyed me

    My zeal has consumed me because my foes forget Your words.

    Here: An intensive verb form (Piel perfect, 'it has…') with 'me' attached: 'it has finished me off', 'it has wiped me out'. It is the language of annihilation, used here as deliberate overstatement for being worn down to nothing. Placed first, it hits before we even know what the subject is.

  10. Psalm 143:12 תַּצְמִ֪ית you will destroy

    And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant.

    Here: "You will finish off / silence." A strong verb for ending something completely and for good. The form is the ordinary future/ongoing verb, used here inside a run of requests, so it can be heard either as a plea ("cut off") or as confident expectation ("you will cut off").

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:53 צָֽמְת֤וּ they destroyed

    They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.

    Here: Its subject is the 'enemies' of verse 52, and the verb form presents the action as finished: 'they finished off / silenced'. Its object comes two words later ('my life'), so the speaker says his life itself was shut down. He is still speaking, so this is the language of being as good as dead.

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