Destroy (853) (aphanizo from aphanes = hidden or literally "not appearing" from a = without + phaino = to appear) means to cause to vanish, make disappear. To make unseen. To render invisible or unrecognizable. Aphanizo can also mean to destroy in the active voice and in the passive voice to be removed out of sight or to become invisible (Jas 4:14). Vine adds that aphanizo means... literally, “to cause to disappear, put out of sight,” came to mean “to do away with” (a, negative, phaino, “to cause to appear”), said of the destructive work of moth and rust, Matt. 6:19, 20 (rv, “consume,” kjv, “corrupt”) (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson) Metaphorically, the idea of aphanizo is to destroy (as the value or use of something), to corrupt, to spoil, as does the moth or canker. The process does not result in annihilation but simply changes whatever is affected from one state to another. Destruction means the cessation of being what a thing is and taking another form of existence, but in context a form that is no longer useful to the owner! This truth makes the following Proverb even more poignant... Solomon one of the richest men of antiquity exhorts the wise reader to... Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone. For they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. (Pr 23:5, NIV) Aphanizo - 5 uses rendered in as destroy(1), destroys(1), neglect (1), perish(1), vanishes away(1). Matthew 6:16 "And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance (NET = they make their faces unattractive; ESV = they disfigure their faces) in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Comment: In this verse aphanizo means to make unsightly, to disfigure, to make ugly, to cause to be unattractive. Matthew 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matthew 6:20 "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; Acts 13:41 'Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; For I am accomplishing a work in your days, A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.'" Comment: Here aphanizo means to be so completely destroyed as not to be visible. James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears (phaino - has light, shines forth, and thus is seen. Literally phaino is a participle = "appearing") for a little while and then vanishes away. (Literally aphanizo is also a participle = vanishing. Note word play with phaino since aphanizo = a + phaino) Vincent commenting on aphanizo adds that this is... The same word which is used above of the hypocrites concealing their faces (Mt 6:16-note). The rust consumes, and therefore causes to disappear. Aphanizo has 78 uses in the Septuagint (LXX) - Ex 8:9; 12:15; 21:29, 36; Deut 7:2; 13:5; 19:1; Judg 21:16; 1 Sam 24:21; 2 Sam 21:5; 22:38; 2 Kgs 10:17, 28; 21:9; Ezra 6:12; Esther 3:6, 13; 4:17; 9:24; Job 2:9; 4:9; 22:20; 39:24; Ps 94:23; 146:9; Prov 10:25; 12:7; 14:11; 30:10; Song 2:15; Jer 4:26; 12:4, 11; 47:4; 50:21, 45; 51:3; Lam 1:4, 13, 16; 3:11; 4:5; 5:18; Ezek 4:17; 6:6; 12:19; 14:9; 19:7; 20:26; 25:3; 30:9; 34:25; 36:4f, 34ff; Dan 2:44; 7:26; 8:25; 11:31, 44; Hos 2:12; 5:15; 10:2; 13:16; Joel 1:17f; 2:20; Amos 7:9; 9:14; Mic 5:14; 6:13, 15; Hab 1:5; Zeph 2:9; 3:6; Zech 7:14. Here are a few uses of aphanizo in the Lxx... Pr 10:25ESV (see also Pr 10:25YLT) When the tempest (Whirlwind - Heb = suphah - from Hebrew root = to come to an end; to cease and is used in prophetic passages describing swift judgment and destruction) passes, the wicked is no more (Heb = ayin = nothing, nought; Lxx = aphanizo), but the righteous is established forever (Literally = a foundation forever) (HALLELUJAH!) Net Bible Comment: The metaphor compares the righteous to an everlasting foundation to stress that they are secure when the catastrophes of life come along. He is fixed in a covenantal relationship and needs not to fear passing misfortunes. The wicked has no such security (Ed: Their security "disappears"). Upshot? As Corrie Ten Boom well said "Hold loosely the things of earth" Proverbs 12:7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more (Lxx = aphanizo), But the house of the righteous will stand. Net Bible Comment: This proverb is about the stability of the righteous in times of trouble. The term "overthrown" might allude to Ge 19:21) Proverbs 14:11 The household (metonymy of subject, referring to their contents: families and family life) of the wicked will be destroyed (Lxx = aphanizo = the idea in context is utterly destroyed - Many of the Lxx uses of aphanizo speak of destruction! - Dt 7:2, ), but the tent of the upright will flourish. Net Bible Comment: Personal integrity ensures domestic stability and prosperity, while lack of such integrity (= wickedness) will lead to the opposite. The term "tent" is a metonymy here referring to the contents of the tent: families. THIEVES Thieves (2812) (kleptes from klépto = steal) is literally a stealer: The kléptes steals by fraud and in secret whereas the related word for robber (lestes) steals by violence and openly. Kleptes is used metaphorically to describe false teachers or deceivers who "steal men away" from the truth as in John 10:8, 10; Hosea 7:1. William Barclay writes of kleptes that... The ancient world was cursed with them. Houses were easy to break into. The robbers particularly haunted two places—the public baths and the public gymnasia where they stole the clothes of those who were washing or exercising themselves. It was common to kidnap slaves who had special gifts. The state of the law shows how serious this problem was. There were three kinds of theft punishable by death: (i) Theft to the value of more than 50 drachmae, that is, about £2. (ii) Theft from the baths, the gymnasia and the ports and harbours to the value of 10 drachmae, that is about 40 pence. (iii) Theft of anything by night. The Christian lived in the middle of a pilfering population.