What does ὄλεθρος (ólethros) mean in the Bible?
ὄλεθρος (ólethros): Complete ruin or destruction, often with eschatological sense of final judgment and eternal separation from God.
Greek · G3639
ὄλεθρος
Destructive
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ὄλεθρος G3639
Pronunciation ólethros
What does ὄλεθρος (ólethros) mean in the Bible?
ὄλεθρος (ólethros): Complete ruin or destruction, often with eschatological sense of final judgment and eternal separation from God.
Full entry for ὄλεθρος (G3639) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3639?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include destruction (2), [the] destruction (1), ruin (1).
Where does ὄλεθρος (ólethros) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Corinthians 5:5. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Thessalonians (1), 1 Timothy (1), 2 Thessalonians (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It destruction 2× 1 Thessalonians 5:3, 2 Thessalonians 1:9
[the] destruction 1× 1 Corinthians 5:5
ruin 1× 1 Timothy 6:9
Show sample aligned rows
1 Corinthians 5:5 ὄλεθρον to [the] destruction Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ὄλεθρος to destruction Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 2 Thessalonians 1:9 ὄλεθρον to destruction Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1 Timothy 6:9 ὄλεθρον to ruin Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row 1 Corinthians 5:5
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 4
1 Corinthians 1 1 Thessalonians 1 2 Thessalonians 1 1 Timothy 1
Source forms
ὄλεθρον 3x olethron 1 Corinthians 5:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Timothy 6:9
ὄλεθρος 1x olethros 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 3x 1 Corinthians 5:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Timothy 6:9
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Complete ruin or destruction, often with eschatological sense of final judgment and eternal separation from God.
Strong's G3639
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 2 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link 1 Corinthians 5:5 Source Gloss
destructive
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Complete ruin or destruction, often with eschatological sense of final judgment and eternal separation from God.
(ὄλλυμι, to destroy), [in LXX for שֹׁד. שָׁדַד, etc. ;] ruin, destruction, death: 1Th.5:3, 1Ti.6:9; αἰώνιος, 2Th.1:9 (L, txt., ὀλέθριος, which see); εἰς ὄ. τῆς σαρκός, for physical discipline, to destroy carnal lusts, 1Co.5:5.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
1 Corinthians 5:5 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ὄλεθρον oleqron
ruin, doom, destruction
Read verse 1 Thessalonians 5:3 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὄλεθρος, oleqrov
ruin, doom, destruction
Read verse 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ὄλεθρον oleqron
ruin, doom, destruction
Read verse 1 Timothy 6:9 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
ὄλεθρον oleqron
ruin, doom, destruction
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 2 Aligned forms 4 Case pattern Accusative (3) Number pattern Singular (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Masculine 1 Thess 5:3 1×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine 1 Cor 5:5 · 2 Thess 1:9 · 1 Tim 6:9 3×
Where It Appears in Scripture
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Biblical Witnesses
Physical discipline aimed at destroying carnal lusts and sin
Sudden ruin and death coming upon the unprepared
Ruin and perdition resulting from love of money
Eternal ruin and separation from God's presence
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain