The meaning of Hurt in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
hurt: The term (noun and verb) represents a large number of Hebrew words, of which the chief are ra' (verb ra'a'), "evil" (Genesis 26:29; I Samuel 24:9; Psalms 35:4, etc.), and shebher or shebher (from shabhar), "a fracture" or "breaking" (Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11, Jeremiah 8:21; Jeremiah 10:19; compare Exodus 22:10, Exodus 22:14). In Greek a principal verb is adikeo, "to do injustice" (Luke 10:19; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 6:6, etc.); once the word "hurt" is used in the King James Version (Acts 27:10, story of Paul's shipwreck) for hubris, "injury" (thus the Revised Version (British and American)). In the Revised Version (British and American) "hurt" sometimes takes the place of other words in the King James Version, as "sick" (Proverbs 23:35), "breach" (Isaiah 30:26), "bruise" (Jeremiah 30:12; Nahum 3:19); sometimes, on the other hand, the word in the King James Version is exchanged in the Revised Version (British and American) for "evil" (Joshua 24:20), "harm" (Acts 18:10), or, as above, "injury" (Acts 27:10). These references sufficiently show the meaning of the word—harm, bruise, breaking, etc. In Jeremiah (ut supra) the word is used figuratively for moral disease or corruption.
James Orr
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