Hebrew word · H7722

שׁוֹאָה

sho'ah

devastation

Ruin, devastation, a crash of destruction. It is closely tied to storm imagery and is sometimes translated 'storm' or 'tempest'. Its relatives in the same family carry the sense of roaring desolation and waste.

Appears 13 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) devastation, ruin, waste

1a) devastation, ruin

1b) ruin, waste (of land)

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 Isaiah 10:3

Range of meaning

Ruin, devastation, a crash of destruction. It is closely tied to storm imagery and is sometimes translated 'storm' or 'tempest'. Its relatives in the same family carry the sense of roaring desolation and waste.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'desolation', BSB 'devastation', and others 'ruin' or 'disaster'. All are fair. The storm overtone, sudden and sweeping and impossible to stop, is mostly lost in English.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 1:27: 'when your terror comes like a storm (sho'ah)'. Zephaniah 1:15 names the Day of the LORD 'a day of ruin (sho'ah) and devastation'. Ezekiel 38:9 describes Gog's invasion 'like a storm (sho'ah)'. Job 30:3 and 30:14 also use it. In modern Hebrew HaShoah is the name for the Holocaust, but that is a twentieth-century use and should not be read back into Isaiah.

From the study of Proverbs 3:25

Range of meaning

Devastation, ruin, a crashing storm. It is connected with a verb meaning 'to crash into ruins, lie desolate' (Isa 6:11). It can name a storm-like onslaught (Ezek 38:9, 'like a storm'), a sudden calamity (Isa 47:11, 'ruin will come on you suddenly'), or a desolate wasteland (Job 30:3; Zeph 1:15, 'a day of ruin and devastation').

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'desolation' now suggests emptiness or loneliness. BSB/NIV/ESV 'ruin' is closer. NASB 'onslaught' keeps the picture of something rushing in.

How it drifted

'Desolation' in older English meant laying waste, devastation. Modern use leans toward an inner, emotional state ('I felt desolate').

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 1:27 (in the Hebrew margin's reading) pairs it with paḥad and the verb 'come', exactly as here. Isa 10:3 and 47:11 use it for a sudden day of disaster. In modern Hebrew it is the word for the Holocaust, a much later use that should not be read back into the text.

From the study of Isaiah 47:11

Range of meaning

Devastation or ruin, often pictured as a violent storm that sweeps through and leaves a wasteland (Prov 1:27; Ezek 38:9). Zephaniah 1:15 pairs it with a related word in 'a day of shoʾah and meshoʾah', devastation and desolation.

Against the English

KJV, WEB 'desolation'; BSB 'devastation'; YLT 'desolation'. All are adequate, though 'desolation' can sound like a feeling (desolate, lonely) rather than ruin.

Used elsewhere in the period

In modern Hebrew Shoah is the standard name for the Holocaust, taken from this biblical word for catastrophic devastation. That later use is not in view here, but it shows how strong the word is.

Where it appears

Job · 3

  1. Job 30:3 שׁוֹאָ֥ה ruin

    Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.

  2. Job 30:14 שֹׁ֝אָ֗ה devastation

    They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.

  3. Job 38:27 שֹׁ֭אָה devastation

    to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 35:8 שׁוֹאָה֮ בְּ֝שׁוֹאָ֗ה destruction, in destruction

    May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.

    Here: A sudden, crashing catastrophe, often pictured as a storm (Prov 1:27; Ezek 38:9). It is the subject of the first line: ruin itself is pictured as coming at the enemy.

  2. Psalm 35:17 מִשֹּׁאֵיהֶ֑ם from ravages their

    How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.

    Here: 'From their devastations'. The noun belongs to a word family used for ruin and sudden destruction, like a storm crashing in (compare Prov 1:27; Zeph 1:15). This plural form appears only here, so its exact nuance is uncertain. Some scholars think the text originally read 'roarers'.

  3. Psalm 63:9 לְ֭שׁוֹאָה to destruction

    But those who seek my life to destroy it will go into the depths of the earth.

    Here: 'For ruin': the purpose of their hunt. They want to wreck his life completely. The word suggests a storm-like, wasting destruction. Some read it as the enemies' own fate ('to their ruin'), and the Greek translation reads 'in vain' (see debates).

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 1:27 כְשׁוֹאָ֨ה like devastation

    when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

    Here: A sudden, crashing ruin, often pictured as a storm that sweeps everything away (compare Ezekiel 38:9, 'you will come like a storm'). The comparison stresses suddenness and how total it is.

  2. Proverbs 3:25 וּמִשֹּׁאַ֥ת and from [the] devastation of

    Do not fear sudden danger or the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

    Here: A crashing, storm-like ruin, the kind that flattens everything. Here it is tied to 'the wicked', so it is either the ruin that strikes them or the ruin they bring. The same word pictures the storm of judgment in 1:27.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 10:3 וּלְשׁוֹאָ֖ה and to [the] devastation

    What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

    Here: A crashing ruin. Elsewhere the word is used for a storm that sweeps everything away (Proverbs 1:27; Ezekiel 38:9). It is set beside the 'day', so the reckoning arrives as a storm of destruction.

  2. Isaiah 47:11 שׁוֹאָ֖ה ruin

    But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

    Here: A violent, storm-like devastation that leaves things waste (compare Proverbs 1:27, 'when your dread comes like a storm'). It is the strongest of the three disaster words and is placed at the climax.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 38:9 כַּשֹּׁאָ֣ה like <the> storm

    You and all your troops, and many peoples with you will go up, advancing like a thunderstorm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

    Here: "Like the ruin/storm." The word names sudden, overwhelming destruction, often pictured as a storm that sweeps in (Prov 1:27). Here it means a destructive tempest, not just bad weather. The pointing shows the definite article: "like the storm."

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 1:15 שֹׁאָה֙ devastation

    That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

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