Lexicon
הָרַס
ha.ras
H2040
H:V Hebrew

to overthrow

43
Occurrences
16
Books
Hebrew
Language

ha.ras denotes bringing down altars, walls, cities, and other established things, and can describe overthrowing people or standing.

The prevailing use is the bringing down of built structures and settled places—altars, walls, towers, cities, and foundations. It also describes the undoing of an established position, people, or land, while two boundary-warning clauses depict breaking through toward the LORD.

Senses in use

  1. Demolishing structures and settlements · dominant

    This is the usual use for bringing built things down. In 1 Kings 18:30 the passive participle describes an altar that had been brought down; in Ezekiel 26:12 the Qal sequential perfect plural occurs in the clause about walls, while the verse also mentions houses and materials being removed. The APB renders these clauses with terms such as "overthrown," "tear down," and "destroy."

  2. Overthrowing established standing or people · occasional

    The term can extend beyond a particular building to what is established or opposed. In Jeremiah 1:10 it stands within a commission concerning nations and kingdoms, alongside uprooting, tearing down, building, and planting; in Isaiah 22:19 the clause concerns removal from an office and station. The APB renders the wider outcomes as "overthrow," "pull you down," and, in Psalm 28:5, "overthrows them."

  3. Breaking through a guarded boundary · rare

    In the warnings at Sinai, the Qal imperfect and jussive plural forms concern people or priests crossing through toward the LORD. In Exodus 19:21 the APB renders the warning "lest they break through to the LORD to look," and Exodus 19:24 again prohibits such crossing.

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited verses, the APB presents the action with "overthrow," "tear down," "destroy," "pull you down," and "break through." Because the APB is a whole-verse translation, these variations describe the clauses' outcomes rather than fixed English equivalents for the term.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture