Hebrew word · H7376

רָטַשׁ

yeruteshu

to dash in pieces

To smash or dash to pieces. In the passive intensive form used here it means 'be dashed to pieces'. In the Hebrew Bible it appears almost only in descriptions of conquerors killing children and mothers.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to dash to pieces

1a) (Piel) to dash in pieces

1b) (Pual) to be dashed in pieces

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 Hosea 13:16

Range of meaning

To smash or dash to pieces. In the passive intensive form used here it means 'be dashed to pieces'. In the Hebrew Bible it appears almost only in descriptions of conquerors killing children and mothers.

Against the English

English versions agree ('dashed in pieces'). Nothing is lost in translation, but readers sometimes take it as poetic exaggeration. It was a literal and documented practice.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Kings 8:12 (Elisha foresees Hazael of Aram dashing Israel's children); Hosea 10:14 ('mothers dashed in pieces with their children' at Beth-arbel); Isaiah 13:16 (Babylon); Nahum 3:10 (Thebes/No-amon); compare Psalm 137:9 with a different verb.

From the study of Isaiah 13:16

Range of meaning

To smash or dash to pieces. It appears only in the intensive and passive stems and only in scenes of war. Its objects are small children (2 Kgs 8:12; Hos 14:1; Nah 3:10; here), mothers together with children (Hos 10:14), and young men struck down by bows (Isa 13:18).

Against the English

English 'dashed to pieces' / 'dashed in pieces' is accurate. NLT's 'dashed to death' gives the result but loses the picture of smashing.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible it is a set phrase for the worst a conquering army does: Elisha weeps as he foresees Hazael doing it to Israel (2 Kgs 8:12), Hosea foresees it for Samaria, and Nahum says it was done to Thebes 'at the head of every street.' Outside Israel, Assyrian royal inscriptions boast of atrocities against children of conquered cities, and in Homer Priam foresees infants hurled to the ground when Troy falls (Iliad 22.63–64). It was the stock picture of a city's total destruction.

From the study of 2 Kings 8:12

Range of meaning

In the intensive form: to dash to pieces, smash. Used almost only of infants (and their mothers) killed when a city falls.

Against the English

KJV 'dash', ESV/WEB/BSB 'dash in pieces', and some modern versions 'dash to the ground'. All accurate. The Hebrew implies smashing against the ground or a rock, compare Psalm 137:9 and Nahum 3:10 ('dashed in pieces at the head of every street').

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 13:16, 18 (fall of Babylon); Hosea 10:14 ('mother dashed in pieces with her children'); Hosea 13:16 [14:1 in Hebrew], where this verb and baqaʿ appear together just as here; Nahum 3:10 (Thebes). It is a stock element of the 'fall of a city' description in prophetic literature.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 8:12 תְּרַטֵּ֔שׁ you will dash in pieces

    “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

    Here: An intensive form: smash, dash to the ground. This is a fixed part of biblical descriptions of a city falling (Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 10:14; 13:16; Nahum 3:10).

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 13:16 יְרֻטְּשׁ֖וּ they will be dashed in pieces

    Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.

    Here: A passive form of a verb for smashing. In the Hebrew Bible it is a fixed term for what conquering armies did to small children. The passive names no attacker; v.17 supplies the Medes.

  2. Isaiah 13:18 תְּרַטַּ֑שְׁנָה they will dash in pieces

    Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.

Hosea · 2

  1. Hosea 10:14 רֻטָּֽשָׁה׃ she was dashed in pieces

    the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.

    Here: A passive, completed action: 'she was smashed to pieces'. In the Bible this verb is used almost only for the massacre of the helpless in war, especially infants smashed against the ground or rocks.

  2. Hosea 13:16 יְרֻטָּ֔שׁוּ they will be dashed in pieces

    Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

    Here: 'Will be dashed to pieces.' The verb form is passive and intensive. The Bible uses this verb almost only for the killing of children and mothers when a city is sacked (2 Kings 8:12; Hosea 10:14; Isaiah 13:16; Nahum 3:10).

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 3:10 יְרֻטְּשׁ֖וּ they were dashed in pieces

    Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

    Here: "Were smashed": a passive, intensive verb used for the killing of children and pregnant women in war. Its tense form can picture the act as happening again and again, child after child.

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