שָׁמַד

From the study of Psalm 145:20

Range of meaning

In the causative (hiphil) form: to exterminate, annihilate, wipe out, destroy completely. Used of wiping out nations (Deut 7:24; 9:3), of destroying high places and idols, and of God's judgment on Israel itself (Deut 28:63; Amos 9:8).

Against the English

'Destroy' is accurate. If anything, the Hebrew is stronger: it means removal, putting an end to something, not just damage.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears often in Deuteronomy's warnings (4:26; 6:15) and in the Psalms (37:38, 'transgressors shall be altogether destroyed'; 92:7, the wicked flourish only 'to be destroyed forever'). Royal inscriptions across the ancient Near East boast of a king destroying evildoers.

From the study of Deuteronomy 33:27

Range of meaning

In the causative form used here: to exterminate, annihilate or wipe out completely. It is stronger than 'defeat' or 'conquer'.

Against the English

KJV 'Destroy [them]'; BSB 'Destroy him!'; NIV and NLT 'Destroy them!'; WEB, ESV and YLT a bare 'Destroy!' The Hebrew is a single word with no object, which is starker.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 7:24; 9:3 ('he will destroy them … and you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly'); 31:3–4. It belongs to the language of total war against the nations of Canaan.

From the study of Amos 9:8

Range of meaning

In this active causative form: to exterminate, annihilate, wipe out completely. It is used of whole peoples, cities and dynasties. It is stronger and more final than general words for "ruin."

Against the English

"Destroy" is accurate but plain. The Hebrew has the ring of total wiping-out, the language of holy war in Deuteronomy.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy uses it for God wiping out the Canaanite nations (Deut 7:24; 9:3), and turns it against Israel as a covenant threat: "lest… he destroy you from upon the face of the ground" (Deut 6:15, wəhišmîdkā mēʿal pənê hāʾădāmāh, nearly word for word with Amos). Also Amos 2:9, where God "destroyed" the Amorite before Israel.