To smite with deadly intent
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Hārag means to kill, to slay, or to put to death. It is a direct and unsparing verb — the Hebrew Bible does not soften violence with euphemism, and hārag describes the act of taking life in its various forms: in battle, in judgment, in murder, and in sacrifice.
Reader summary
Full entry for הָרַג (H2026) · Open the biblical lexicon
Hārag means to kill, to slay, or to put to death. It is a direct and unsparing verb — the Hebrew Bible does not soften violence with euphemism, and hārag describes the act of taking life in its various forms: in battle, in judgment, in murder, and in sacrifice.
The BSB source-word alignment has 167 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include killed (9), and killed (7), kill (7), . . . (4), and slaughtered (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (16), Judges (16), 2 Chronicles (12), 1 Kings (11).
Hārag means to kill, to slay, or to put to death. It is a direct and unsparing verb — the Hebrew Bible does not soften violence with euphemism, and hārag describes the act of taking life in its various forms: in battle, in judgment, in murder, and in sacrifice. The word appears in some of the most morally challenging narratives in the Old Testament: Cain slays Abel (the verb used is hārag), Simeon and Levi slay the Shechemites, Elijah slays the prophets of Baal, the Passover destroyer kills the firstborn, and God's judgment falls on nations and individuals through the agency of military defeat.
The word is morally neutral in itself — it describes the act without specifying its moral character. Context determines whether the killing is murder, just punishment, war, or the carrying out of divine judgment. This moral range is itself instructive: the same physical act can have radically different significance depending on who acts, under what authority, and toward what end.
The Old Testament does not treat all killing as equivalent. It distinguishes murder (rāṣaḥ, the word used in the sixth commandment) from sanctioned killing in war, judgment, and sacrifice. Hārag covers the broader category while the moral context narrows it.
The local Hebrew index currently counts about 167 occurrences of harag across the Hebrew Bible, with concentration in the Historical Books (Judges, Samuel, Kings), the Pentateuch (Exodus, Numbers), and the Psalms. It appears in narrative (Cain killed Abel), in legal contexts (the killer shall be killed), in battle accounts (the army killed all the men), and in prophetic judgment (God will kill those who refuse to return). The word is morally undifferentiated in itself but theologically significant in context.
Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
The first use of hārag in Scripture describes the first murder. Cain kills Abel — the verb is direct, unadorned, and definitive. This is the moment where fraternal hostility crosses from desire into act. The context is worship: Cain's unaccepted offering leads to killing his brother. Violence against persons is rooted in disordered worship, a connection the prophets develop throughout the canon.
For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.
The Passover's memorial is structured around hārag: the Lord killed the firstborn. Israel's redemption is inseparable from death — the death of Egypt's firstborn secures Israel's freedom. The Passover sacrifice and the redemption of the firstborn are the ritual response to that death. The word's appearance in the explanation of why firstborns are redeemed grounds Israel's liturgical life in historical killing.
Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.
Elijah's killing of the Baal prophets uses hārag in the context of covenant judgment. The Carmel contest has demonstrated who is God; the killing of the false prophets is the execution of divine judgment against those who led Israel into apostasy. The word here is unapologetic — this is what covenant judgment looks like in a theocratic context.
Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
The martyr psalm uses hārag in the passive voice: we are being killed for your sake. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 8:36, applying it to the experience of believers who suffer for Christ. The killing here is not judgment but costly faithfulness — those who identify with God face lethal opposition from those who reject him.
For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
Wisdom's use of hārag: the simple are killed by their own waywardness. The killing here is internal — the refusal to heed wisdom is itself a form of self-destruction. The word is used metaphorically for the moral consequences of rejecting instruction.
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. Violent killing with intent to destroy; ranges from battlefield slaughter to judicial execution to murder
Violent killing with intent to destroy; ranges from battlefield slaughter to judicial execution to murder
to smite with deadly intent BDB: kill Usage: destroy, out of hand, kill, murder(-er), put to (death), make (slaughter), slay(-er), × surely.
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 167 lexical occurrence verses.
הָרַג is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Hārag is one of the biblical vocabulary items that reminds teachers and preachers that the Scripture does not avoid the reality of death and violence. The word is used in the first murder, in the exodus judgments, in covenant sanctions, in martyrdom, and in wisdom's account of self-destruction. The Old Testament's willingness to name killing directly — without euphemism, without sentimentalizing — is part of its moral realism.
Death is not clean. Violence has weight. The first hārag in Scripture is Cain killing Abel, and it is framed in the context of worship gone wrong. The prophets understand this connection: when right worship collapses, violence follows. When the Lord is not acknowledged as the giver and sustainer of life, human beings make themselves judges of who deserves to live.
Preaching from hārag texts requires pastoral care precisely because the word appears in stories that disturb: Elijah killing the Baal prophets, the Passover death of the firstborn, the wars of conquest. These texts have been used carelessly and harmfully. The answer is not to avoid them but to read them in their canonical context, with attention to what each narrative is actually claiming about God's character and Israel's vocation.
The martyrdom use of hārag in Psalm 44, quoted by Paul in Romans 8, is the unexpected pastoral heart of the word: those who identify with God may face death from those who oppose him. But neither death nor any other power can separate them from God's love.
Gen.4.8
Hārag is a general killing verb that covers both intentional and judicially sanctioned killing. It is distinguished from rāṣaḥ (to murder, the commandment's word — reserved for unauthorized taking of life), from šāḥaṭ (to slaughter, primarily for sacrificial or butchering contexts), and from mût (to die, or in the Hiphil, to cause to die — often used for judicial execution).
Hārag's range is broad: it can describe battle killing, individual killing, divine killing through agents, and metaphorical self-destruction through foolishness. The word's breadth makes context essential for its interpretation.
The New Testament's primary killing verb is apokteinō (to kill, used for Jesus' death and for potential martyrdom). Paul's quotation of Psalm 44:22 in Romans 8:36 brings hārag's martyrdom use directly into the New Testament's account of suffering for Christ. The one killed for God's sake in the psalm becomes the pattern for those who face death for Christ in the mission of the church.
Jesus' extension of the sixth commandment in Matthew 5:21-22 ('you have heard, do not murder, but I say to you, anyone who is angry with his brother is subject to judgment') reaches into the interior where killing begins: the anger, contempt, and dehumanization that precede hārag. The root of violence is not the act but the disposition. James 4:2 traces murder to frustrated desire: 'you desire and do not have, so you murder.'
The arc from Genesis 4 (Cain's frustrated offering leads to killing) to James 4 (frustrated desire leads to killing) is the canonical account of how hārag begins.