אָבַד
a.vad
to perish
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of אָבַד (avad) - "to perish" The Hebrew verb אָבַד appears 184 times throughout the biblical text, making it a moderately frequent term for describing loss or destruction. Its core meaning, "to perish," encompasses the idea of something coming to an end or ceasing to exist. This root captures both the state of being lost or destroyed and the process of deterioration leading to that state. The high frequency of this word across the biblical corpus suggests it addressed concerns central to Hebrew thought and experience. The term likely covered a range of related scenarios—from physical death and material loss to the disappearance of people, animals, or objects. Its repeated use indicates that biblical authors regularly needed language to express the concept of irretrievable loss, whether describing personal tragedy, national disaster, or the fate of the wicked. The prevalence of אָבַד in narrative, prophetic, and wisdom literature suggests the concept of perishing was theologically significant across different genres and time periods of biblical composition. Without access to specific contextual examples, the full semantic range remains defined by the primary definition provided; however, the substantial number of occurrences indicates this was a foundational concept for expressing destruction, loss, and finality in ancient Hebrew religious and historical discourse.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
184 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
Esther 3:13Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
Esther 4:7Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
Esther 4:14For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:16“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Esther 4:16“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Esther 7:4For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”
Esther 8:5She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right to the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.
Esther 8:11In those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to defend their life, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their possessions,
Esther 9:6In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
Esther 9:12The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”
Esther 9:24because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast “Pur”, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
Esther 9:24because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast “Pur”, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
Job 3:3“Let the day perish in which I was born, the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’
Job 4:7“Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
Job 4:9By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
Job 4:11The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
Job 4:20Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
Job 6:18The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish.
Job 8:13So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish,
Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”
Job 12:23He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
Job 14:19The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.
Job 18:17His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street.
Job 20:7yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
Job 29:13the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
Job 30:2Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?
Job 31:19if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
Psalms 1:6For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
Psalms 2:12Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
Psalms 5:6You will destroy those who speak lies. Yahweh abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Psalms 9:3When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.
Psalms 9:5You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
Psalms 9:6The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
Psalms 9:18For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
Psalms 10:16Yahweh is King forever and ever! The nations will perish out of his land.
Psalms 21:10You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men.
Psalms 31:12I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.
Psalms 37:20But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish— vanish like smoke.
Psalms 41:5My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”
Psalms 49:10For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Psalms 68:2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Psalms 73:27For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
Psalms 80:16It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
Psalms 83:17Let them be disappointed and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be confounded and perish;
Psalms 92:9For, behold, your enemies, Yahweh, for, behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered.
Psalms 102:26They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
Psalms 112:10The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.
Psalms 119:92Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
Psalms 119:95The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me. I will consider your statutes.