To decay , i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively)
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שָׁחַת (šāḥat) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes becoming corrupt, acting corruptly, destroying, ruining, damaging, spoiling, and going to ruin. Genesis 6 uses it both for the earth's corrupted condition and for all flesh corrupting its way, then for God's announced destruction of the violent world.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׁחַת (H7843) · Open the biblical lexicon
שָׁחַת (šāḥat) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes becoming corrupt, acting corruptly, destroying, ruining, damaging, spoiling, and going to ruin. Genesis 6 uses it both for the earth's corrupted condition and for all flesh corrupting its way, then for God's announced destruction of the violent world.
The BSB source-word alignment has 146 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to destroy (12), destroy (8), and destroy (4), destroyed (4), and destroyed (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 6:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (21), Genesis (17), Deuteronomy (11), Ezekiel (11).
שָׁחַת (šāḥat) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes becoming corrupt, acting corruptly, destroying, ruining, damaging, spoiling, and going to ruin. Genesis 6 uses it both for the earth's corrupted condition and for all flesh corrupting its way, then for God's announced destruction of the violent world. Elsewhere the verb can describe damage to a body, the ruin of an object, military devastation, idolatrous corruption, self-destructive conduct, or an agent carrying out judgment. Context and verbal form decide which sense is active.
The verb does not always describe a gradual process, nor does it always imply that the object was morally corrupt before being destroyed. Exodus 21:26 concerns damage to an enslaved person's eye. Deuteronomy 20 prohibits destroying fruit trees during a siege. Jeremiah 18 describes a pot spoiled in a potter's hand. Ruth 4 concerns a man's fear of impairing his inheritance. These uses prevent a single theory of moral decay from controlling the entire lexeme.
Texts that attribute destruction to God or God's agents must be read within their particular judgment narratives and alongside the canon's witness to justice, mercy, restraint, and restoration. H7843 does not authorize readers to label people irredeemably ruined, enact violence, destroy creation, or present disasters as certain judgments on named victims.
H7843 appears in flood narrative, exodus, law, warfare, wisdom, royal history, prophecy, lament, and restoration promises. Its senses range from moral corruption to physical damage and decisive destruction.
God sees the earth corrupted because all flesh has corrupted its way, within the flood narrative's account of violence and judgment.
Onan destroys or wastes his seed to avoid producing offspring for his brother, within a narrative of denied familial duty and reproductive exploitation.
The Lord does not permit the destroyer to enter the blood-marked houses, placing the agent under divine direction in the Passover judgment.
Damage to an enslaved person's eye requires release, showing the verb's concrete bodily-harm sense within case law.
Israel is forbidden to destroy fruit trees during a siege, placing a limit on wartime destruction.
A vessel is spoiled in the potter's hand and reworked into another vessel, a material image later applied to divine freedom and communal response.
Israel's ruin is tied to opposition against the one who is also their help, in a prophetic judgment speech.
The godless person destroys a neighbor by speech, while knowledge delivers the righteous.
As the angel stretches out a hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relents from the calamity and commands restraint.
The Babylonian conquest destroys the temple and its valuable vessels within the Chronicler's account of exile.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Destruction through decay or corruption; often describes moral/spiritual ruin, not merely physical damage.
Destruction through decay or corruption; often describes moral/spiritual ruin, not merely physical damage.
to decay, i.e. (causatively) ruin (literally or figuratively) BDB: go to ruin Usage: batter, cast off, corrupt(-er, thing), destroy(-er, -uction), lose, mar, perish, spill, spoiler, × utterly, waste(-r).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 147 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁחַת is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The word emphasizes the damaging power of destructive speech. Hosea 13:9-16
Frames Israel’s self-inflicted collapse. Hosea 9:7-9
Highlights entrenched moral decay. Proverbs 11:9
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H7843 helps teachers distinguish moral corruption, physical damage, material spoilage, military destruction, and judgment instead of turning every occurrence into one theory of progressive decay. Genesis 6 is a central witness, but it does not exhaust the range. Exodus 21 centers bodily harm to an enslaved person; Deuteronomy 20 limits destruction during siege; Jeremiah 18 depicts a spoiled vessel being reworked; and 2 Samuel 24 includes divine restraint.
Responsible preaching names both the seriousness of ruin and the limits Scripture places on human violence. It also refuses dehumanizing labels. A harmed, addicted, exploited, disabled, traumatized, or morally compromised person is not lexically declared beyond care or restoration. When abuse, sexual coercion, environmental damage, or threats of violence are present, protection, accountability, and qualified support take priority over abstract applications about corruption.
Gen.6.12
H7843 occurs in stems that can foreground becoming corrupt, acting corruptly, or causing destruction. English translations therefore vary among corrupt, destroy, ruin, spoil, damage, waste, and perish. The related noun H7845, often rendered pit or destruction, must not be merged mechanically with the verb's occurrence set.
New Testament language for corruption, destruction, perishing, and renewal develops related canonical themes through several Greek words. No single Greek lexeme should be treated as the automatic equivalent of every H7843 use. Each connection requires its own context.
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